Groups debate expansion of COPPA

COPPA was passed by Congress in 1998 to protect the online privacy of children under the age of 13. The FTC is required to review the law every five years; the Commission avoided making any changes in 2005 but launched a comprehensive review of the rules this spring. Among the changes proposed are expanding the definition of personal information to include location data often captured by mobile devices.

The coalition is one among many groups that have submitted comments to the FTC as part of the review process. The Progress & Freedom Foundation, Center for Democracy and Technology, and Electronic Frontier Foundation filed joint comments this week urging the Commission not to turn COPPA into “a sweeping age verification mandate for the Internet.”

Likewise, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association said the law has been working well and warned against making any major changes. The NCTA opposes expanding the definition of personal information to include zip codes, gender or geographic location, citing potential benefits of allowing sites to collect that data.

“The Commission must take great care to ensure that it does not expand the COPPA requirements in ways that discourage development of effective, safe, and creative interactive media products that may have great value for children and their families,” said NCTA.