Privacy Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week, in case you missed them. All articles can be found by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Parental consent is key to ensuring that kids are protected at school, a panel at the Student Privacy and Parental Consent event said Friday. At the same time, too much choice in consent and opt-outs can spur inequality in education, panelists warned. Public Interest Privacy Center (PIPC), Toyo University and George Washington Law hosted the event.
It’s up to social media companies, which make “trillions of dollars” a year, to determine how to effectively verify users’ ages and parental consent for minors, said Connecticut Attorney General William Tong (D) on Monday. Tong urged legislators to pass a kids’ social media bill (HB-6857) at a livestreamed Connecticut General Law Committee hearing. Tech industry groups condemned the proposal in statements.
Even with an increasing number of privacy laws throughout the country, privacy protection will mean little unless there's adequate enforcement, said a panel on EdTech compliance during the Student Privacy and Parental Consent event. Public Interest Privacy Center (PIPC), Toyo University and George Washington Law hosted the event Friday.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should direct a lower court to enjoin California’s 2024 law (SB-976) restricting social media feeds for minors, consumer privacy advocates and free-market groups said in amicus briefs filed Thursday (case 25-146). As it urged the appeals court to reverse the U.S. District Court for Northern California, the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) raised privacy concerns about requiring companies to conduct age verification.
The Kids Off Social Media Act (KOSMA) would create redundant and conflicting regulations due to existing children’s privacy protections, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation said Thursday.
Illinois legislators introduced a slew of privacy measures last week, including a comprehensive bill, Delete Act proposal and multiple updates to the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
Maryland, one of many states across the country introducing age-verification bills aimed at protecting children online, heard testimony Wednesday in support of HB-394. The bill would make websites liable for distributing obscene content to kids younger than 18, while setting data retention rules for identifying information collected for age verification (see 2501170053).
A privacy expert who worked on Maryland's age-appropriate design code (AADC) said she hopes it can better withstand legal challenges than the California version of the law.
Judges for the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals appeared split during oral argument Tuesday in NetChoice v Fitch, which deals with a Mississippi kids online safety law. NetChoice sued Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R) last year over HB-1126, alleging that it violates the First Amendment and that its age-verification requirement poses privacy problems (see 2501310041).