Legislators in several states added to a growing pile of age-verification bills Friday. Kids privacy and online safety bills have been an early focus for these lawmakers (see 2501170053).
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The FTC’s new requirement that companies obtain separate parental consent when collecting children’s data for nonessential business purposes is a key change compliance professionals should fully understand, attorneys said Tuesday.
Virtual private networks, or VPNs, aren't the effective loopholes to age-verification laws that many think they are, Electronic Frontier Foundation staff said in a blog post Friday. Currently, 19 states have laws that require age verification before a user can access sites containing adult content, said bloggers Paige Collings, EFF senior speech and privacy activist, and Rindala Alajaji, EFF legislative activist.
The early weeks of January have brought a blizzard of state bills focused on protecting kids online, including requiring age verification on porn and social media websites. Some industry groups have long raised privacy concerns with such mandates, arguing they could require that users submit sensitive information confirming their age or parental status to consent to a child’s access.
The FTC trumpeted two big enforcement actions as part of a flurry of announcements in the days before Monday's inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. The FTC on Thursday proposed a nonmonetary settlement with GM and OnStar over allegations the companies collected and sold consumers’ location data without proper consent. The commission on Friday announced a settlement of $20 million with the maker of the videogame Genshin Impact over allegations of violating a child privacy law. The FTC also revealed a long-awaited update to children’s online privacy rules Thursday (see 2501160068).
National security surveillance, First Amendment issues and age-gating will be key privacy and technology policy areas to watch under the incoming administration, said Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) staff during a webinar Thursday.
U.K. regulator Ofcom Thursday issued industry guidance detailing how apps and sites can implement effective age checks to keep children from encountering online porn and protect them from other harmful content. Pornography providers have until July to introduce age checks, it said. The office also published a statement on age assurance and children's access, and warned that its age assurance enforcement program is open for business.
The FTC is finalizing changes to its children’s online privacy regulations “to set new requirements around the collection, use and disclosure of children’s personal information and give parents new tools and protections to help them control what data is provided to third parties about their children,” it said in a Thursday news release.
The FTC on Thursday announced its long-awaited update to children’s online privacy rules, which includes new opt-in consent requirements and data retention limits.