Youth Digital Marketing

Washington, DC: The Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) filed a complaint today with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) calling for an investigation of and action against the Mobbles Corporation for operating the mobile application Mobbles in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Mobbles, a game involving virtual pets, is directed at children under age 13. It collects personal information from children without providing any notice to parents (nor even attempting to obtain verifiable parental consent), as required by law.
 

Statement of Jeff Chester:  The FTC's "Mobile Apps for Kids" report reveals a mobile app industry--which includes Apple, Google, ad networks, advertisers, app developers and trade associations--demonstrating contempt or indifference about protecting privacy.  Since what the FTC found was focused on children, it only compounds the problem.  The industry was given advance notice by the Commission that it would issue a follow-up to its Feb.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec. 6, 2012
 
New Survey Reveals Strong Support for Updating Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act
Majority express concerns about new marketing and data-collection practices such as behavioral profiling and mobile tracking
 

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) protects children's privacy online.  It is a powerful safeguard empowering parents to make decisions about how personal information from their child can be collected and used.  As the Federal Trade Commission nears its historic vote to ensure that COPPA addresses the range of digital data collection practices that threaten child privacy--including from behavioral profiling and geo-location targeting--here's a brief primer.

For decades, children have been big business--the source for buying toys, games, clothes and now lots of high-tech goodies.  Marketers have tried to treat kids as young adults--unleashing an array of ad campaigns designed to get them to buy or "pester" their parents.  Media companies and marketers, for the most part, have opposed regulatory safeguards that would protect young people from such unfettered advertising (kids TV is a great example).  It comes as no surprise to anyone that one reason media and marketing companies want unfettered access to influence kids,

Last August,  a coalition of child health, consumer and privacy groups asked the FTC to investigate the use of so-called "Refer-A-Friend" viral branded marketing tactics designed to encourage kids to provided the email addresses of their friends--a violation we believe of the children's online privacy law--COPPA.  The idea that leading companies would work to bypass--and undermine--parental role is disturbing.  Among the companies engaging in those practices explained the complaint included McDonald's, General Mills, Subway, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.&

Among the most vocal opponents of protecting children's privacy online in the mobile/location data tracking and targeting era is ACT (Association for Competitive Technology), which claims it is a "international grassroots advocacy and education organization representing more than 5,000 small and mid-size app developers and information technology firms."   But who is really behind the`we represent the small gals/guys' facade?

With kids privacy at stake, including on mobile devices, and the online ad lobby up in digital arms because the FTC is proposing a parent be in better control of data collected from children 12 and under, we need you to speak out.  Special interest digital advertising industry lobbyists, joined by databrokers, and kids content and toy companies are teaming up to pressure the Federal Trade Commision so it won't support safeguards.  The petition is

The same comedy writers at Facebook who wrote about the glories to be from its IPO--now a colossal joke--were just put to work again in the social ad network's new FTC comments on children's privacy (COPPA).  Like the hype used to blur the real financial prospects of Facebook, its arguments against strengthening rules to better protect children 12 and under from intrusive and manipulative digital data collection practices are based on a lack of candor.  Undoubtedly, Mark Zuckerberg and company will be peddling the Brooklyn Bridge for sale soon.
 

Continuing its work to protect the privacy of children under 13 in the "Big Data" era, a coalition of leading groups just filed Comments with the Federal Trade Commission on its proposed new rules under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).  Many of these groups worked to get the law passed back in 1998.