Answers to a couple of questions: CAN I COLLECT THE AGE OF THE VISITOR TO DETERMINE WHETHER I WILL COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION. Yes. COPPA restricts the gathering of personal information from children. Age, in and of itself, is not listed as "personal information" by COPPA or the FTC rules. This means that you can ask the visitor to submit information on age and, if the visitor is under age, refuse to collect any further information from that visitor. WHAT ABOUT LYING KIDS? Children would never lie. (okay, have you stopped laughing). If you target children (if you are Disney), you are under COPPA (lying children is irrelevant). If you do not target children, and if a child lies that they are 13 or over, then you are arguably not liable. The law states that you must have *actual* knowledge. You lack *actual* knowledge. The FTC emphasizes in its Order releasing the final rule that we are talking about *actual* knowledge. I see nothing in the law or FTC explanation that creates any further burden on your (the website) part. DOES A SITE THAT DOES NOT TARGET CHILDREN HAVE TO CREATE A PARENTAL CONSENT PROGRAM? If the site is not an online service directed at children nor does it have actual knowledge that it is collecting personal information from a child then it is not under COPPA. If the site does have such actual knowledge, it can elect (a) not to collect information from children under the age of 13 (see discussion above) or (b) not to collect age information. For example, I maintain a mailing list at Cybertelecom - all I ask is for people's e-mail address - I have no knowledge of ages and therefore do not fall within the scope of COPPA. Thus you certainly can use e-mail address for password verification as long as there is no age knowledge attached to that. If you collect age information, and elect to collect information from children who are under age 13, then you must comply with COPPA. If you collect information from children under age 13, it IS NOT illegal. You simply have to comply with the requirements of the law (some people are writing as if the mere act itself of collecting the information is per se illegal). CAN I RUN A CONTEST THAT IS ILLEGAL IN FLORIDA? I am not sure why you cant run an illegal in Florida contest as long as you do not target children or you do not have actual knowledge of age. However, FTC did implement rules specifically concerning children and contests. These rules state "An operator is prohibited from conditioning a child's participation in a game, the offering of a prize, or another activity on the child's disclosing more personal information than is reasonably necessary to participate in such activity." ยง 312.7 As far as Children surfing the web, they have freedom to surf sites that (a) do not collect information (b) do not collect age information or (c) cater to children and implement the policy (Disney, PBS, Nickelodean, educational sites). That is a pretty big universe. When one person says that the feds are trying to use "us" as Internet police (an accusation on other issues that is quite accurate), I am not sure what you mean here. This legislation is specifically directed at those who actually collect data from children: "operators". Networks themselves who are not "operators" of the data collecting websites are not impacted. Thus only those engaged in the actual activity of concern are the focus of the new regulation - not neutral third party networks. Hopefully all of this points to the importance of paying attention to the regulatory process in Washington DC - it is very easy for you to participate these days and get your views heard. -Robert Cannon www.cybertelecom.org Not legal advice. If it were, there would be a bill. I assure you. ______________________________________________ FREE Personalized Email at Mail.com Sign up at http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup