It's tough to be the FTC – or anyone else trying to make rules for user-driven (social) media. It's hard enough to make static rules address fast-changing technology. Then there's the problem of changing understanding of consumers – the intended beneficiaries of the rules and the users of user-driven media – as we all adjust to having the data that represents so much of our everyday lives in a … [Read more...] about The ‘minimum age’ & other unintended consequences of COPPA
FTC
FTC finds kid apps’ privacy practices ‘disAPPointing’
The US Federal Trade Commission has turned this week's wakeup call about mobile-app privacy into a conference call, adding kids' privacy to the conversation. The title of its just-released report "Mobile Apps for Kids: Current Privacy Disclosures are Disappointing" (that's the FTC authors' cute italicization) summarizes the Commission's conclusions well. But to make their point crystal clear, the … [Read more...] about FTC finds kid apps’ privacy practices ‘disAPPointing’
Facebook’s agreement with FTC: What it means for users
"Facebook will soon be on privacy probation, thanks to a proposed settlement with the Federal Trade Commission," PC World reports. It's referring to a "consent agreement" about the FTC's "reason to believe" that Facebook has committed "fraudulent, deceptive, [or] unfair business practices," as the FTC put it in its press release – though "most of the issues raised in the complaint have been … [Read more...] about Facebook’s agreement with FTC: What it means for users
FTC’s proposed updates for COPPA
The US Federal Trade Commission has just announced its proposed changes for the 10-year-old Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, the law that inadvertently created the social Web's "minimum age" of 13 (in its effort to define an age when all children are developmentally able to protect their own privacy). Because COPPA requires children's sites and services to obtain parental consent … [Read more...] about FTC’s proposed updates for COPPA
Behavioral advertising: So far we’re not opting out
Online advertisers have been testing US Web users' tolerance for behavioral advertising (tracking our online activities or behaviors and targeting us with ads based on that automated tracking), and so far not many of us have been bothered by it. "Since last year, ad organizations in the US have been running a campaign designed to convince Congress and the FTC that self-regulation is good enough," … [Read more...] about Behavioral advertising: So far we’re not opting out