Introducing COPPA

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) has its roots in the 1990s period in the United States, when there was unprecedented growth of e-commerce businesses, the internet, and its usage. With the increased use of the internet and data collection activities on the rise, this led to calls to address the issue of privacy, especially regarding children under the age of 13. Until that point, very few websites had privacy policies regarding collecting data that involved children under the age of 13. The Center of Media Education petitioned the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to look into this matter, especially regarding deceptive actions by companies that focused on children's data. The report by the FTC indeed found reason to create legislative action that sought to protect children under the age of 13.

This decision led to the COPPA laws being drafted, whereby websites were required to seek parental and guardian permission when collecting user...