What Is COPPA? Why Your Parent Has to Say Yes
COPPA is a law that protects kids online by requiring websites to get parent permission before collecting your personal information.
# What Is COPPA? Why Your Parent Has to Say Yes
What Does COPPA Mean?
COPPA is the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, a United States federal law. The name sounds complicated, but here's what it means in simple words: COPPA gives parents control over what information websites can collect from their kids.
The law applies to the online collection of personal information by persons or entities under U.S. jurisdiction about children under 13 years of age, including children outside the U.S. if the website or service is U.S.-based.
Why Do Websites Need Your Parent's Permission?
When you sign up for a website or app, you might need to give information like your name, email, or age. COPPA prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices in connection with the collection, use, and/or disclosure of personal information from and about children on the internet.
This is why websites can't just collect your info without asking your parent first. 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.
What Information Is Protected?
Personal information that falls within COPPA compliance requirements includes children's names, nicknames, email addresses, telephone numbers, home addresses, and other geo-location information, social security numbers, photos, video, and audio files of the child, any persistent identifier or tracker that can be used to recognize an individual's use over time and/or across different websites, as well as any information that enables physical or online communication or contact with a specific individual.
How Does Parental Consent Work?
COPPA makes it illegal for commercial websites to collect identifying information about kids under the age of 13 without verifiable parental consent. "Verifiable" means the website has to make sure it's really your parent saying yes—not just anyone.