Digital Directions - Winter 2013 - (Page 46)
SECURITY_Protecting Child Data
The Federal Trade Commission has approved revised rules that spell out the
types of information that cannot be collected from children without their
parents’ permission, an action meant to address privacy concerns in the
constantly evolving era of smartphones, tablets, social media, and apps
T
he Federal Trade Commission
recently outlined new
policies that seek to close
loopholes that the agency
says too often allow websites
and online services to gather
information improperly from students
and turn it over to third parties for
advertising purposes.
One significant change clarifies that
the types of “personal information” that
can’t be culled without parents’
approval include geolocation
information, photos, and videos.
That restriction is important because
those bits of personal information
“could be used by those who would
seek to cause physical harm to
46 >> www.digitaldirections.org
children,” FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz
said in a statement.
The agency, which seeks to protect
consumers and curb deceptive and anticompetitive practices, also modified the
rules so that they apply to “persistent
identifiers,” that can reveal information
about users over time and across
different websites and services. Those
identifiers include IP addresses and
mobile device IDs, which can be used to
build “massive profiles of children by
behavioral marketers,” Leibowitz says.
“[L]et’s be honest: Some companies,
especially some ad networks, have an
insatiable desire to collect information,
even from kids,” Leibowitz adds. “Our
children deserve better, and our great
American technology companies
understand that they can do better.”
Another change, the FTC says, will
close a loophole that allows apps and
websites directed at children to permit
third parties to collect personal
informaton from children through
plug-ins, without parents’ permission.
The rules are based on the Children’s
Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998.
That law gave the FTC the power to
implement and periodically update
rules pertaining to how the law is to be
enforced. The newly approved
amendments to the rules will go into
effect on July 1, 2013.
The modified rules were approved a
week after the FTC released a highly
critical report arguing that mobile
applications and entities throughout the
technology industry often fail to prevent
children’s personal information from
being gathered and turned over to third
parties, without parents’ knowledge.
—SEAN CAVANAGH
ILLUSTRATION: iStockphoto_Nikolaas Boden
Data-Mining Faces
New Privacy Rules
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Directions - Winter 2013
Digital Directions - Winter 2013
Contents
Editor’s Note
DD Site Visit
Bits & Bytes
Digital Storytelling
Online Courses Turn on Gaming
Reading in the Age of Digital Devices
Movers & Shakers
State, Federal Leadership Seen as Key to Innovation
Open-Source Opportunities
BYOD Boundaries
E-Cloud Forecast
Digital Shift
Security
Digital Directions - Winter 2013
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