The following statement on the introduction of COPPA 2.0 by U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and Ed Markey (D-MA) along with U.S. Representatives Tim Walberg (R-MI-05) and Representative Kathy Castor (D-FL-14) can be attributed to Sara Kloek, Vice President, Education and Children’s Policy for the Software & Information Industry Association.
We see the introduction of the updated text to the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (known as “COPPA 2.0”) as an encouraging first step on how to meaningfully protect the privacy and safety of children and teens online while ensuring they are able to connect, learn, and access information online.
We are pleased that COPPA 2.0 clarifies how COPPA works in schools, codifies internal operations language, prohibits targeted advertising to children and teens, and establishes data minimization rules to prohibit the excessive collection of children and teens’ data. Many of these provisions align with the Child and Teen Privacy and Safety Principles that SIIA released in late March.
We are concerned, however, that COPPA 2.0 would change the existing COPPA knowledge standard from “actual knowledge” to “knowledge fairly implied on the basis of objective circumstances.” This change could lead operators to require age verification for all visitors, not just children, to an operator’s website, with corresponding increase to privacy and cybersecurity risk. We are also concerned that COPPA 2.0 would, even if unintentionally, prohibit contextual advertising, which could lead operators to charge for access or cut off services. This would have a notable impact on the digital divide.
We look forward to having conversations with members of Congress about the legislation.
