What COPPA Means and Why Your Parent Has to Say Yes
COPPA is a law that protects kids under 13 online by making sure parents know and agree before websites collect their information.
# What COPPA Means and Why Your Parent Has to Say Yes
What Is COPPA?
COPPA is a federal law enacted to protect the online privacy of children under 13. The letters stand for "Children's Online Privacy Protection Act." Think of it like a rule book that keeps websites honest when they collect information from kids like you.
The law gives parents control over what information websites can collect from their kids. It's like having your parent be the gatekeeper for your personal information online.
What Information Does COPPA Protect?
Personal information includes children's names, nicknames, email addresses, telephone numbers, home addresses, photos, video, and audio files of the child. It also protects things like your location and any information that could help someone contact you.
If a website wants to collect ANY of this information from you, they need your parent's permission first. No exceptions!
Why Does Your Parent Have to Say Yes?
Congress determined to apply the statute's protections only to children under 13, recognizing that younger children are particularly vulnerable to overreaching by marketers and may not understand the safety and privacy issues created by the online collection of personal information.
In other words, grown-ups know that kids are still learning about the internet. Your parents are there to help protect you.
How Does Your Parent Give Permission?
The COPPA Rule does not mandate the method a company must use to get parental consent. Instead, it says that an operator must choose a method reasonably designed in light of available technology to ensure that the person giving the consent is the child's parent.
Existing methods to obtain verifiable parental consent include: providing a consent form to be signed by the parent and returned by postal mail, facsimile, or electronic scan; requiring a parent to use a credit card or online payment system; having a parent call a toll-free telephone number staffed by trained personnel; or having a parent connect to trained personnel via video-conference.