Media Giants Join Silicon Valley in Objection to Children Privacy Act
By Karla Robinson
November 8, 2012
November 8, 2012
- Normally on opposing sides, top Silicon Valley companies are coming together with media giants and cable operators to resist the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed update to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
- Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Viacom, Disney, cable operators, a toy makers trade group and others have argued that the changes are so arduous that, “rather than enhance online protections for children, they threaten to deter companies from offering children’s Web sites and services altogether,” reports The New York Times.
- “But the underlying concern, for both the industry and regulators,” the article continues, “is not so much about online products for children themselves. It is about the data collection and data mining mechanisms that facilitate digital marketing on apps and Web sites for children — and a debate over whether these practices could put children at greater risk.”
- The update would institute persistent ID systems and require further parental permissions for data collection for ads.
- Alan L. Friel, chairman of the media and technology practice at Edwards Wildman Palmer law firm, rebuts concerns that tracking is inherently bad.
- “What is the harm we are trying to prevent here?” he asks. “We risk losing a lot of the really good educational and entertaining content if we make things too difficult for people to operate the sites or generate revenue from the sites.”
- “The economic issue at stake is much bigger than just the narrow children’s audience,” suggests the article. “If the F.T.C. were to include customer code numbers among the information that requires a parent’s consent, industry analysts say, it might someday require companies to get similar consent for a practice that represents the backbone of digital marketing and advertising — using such code numbers to track the online activities of adults.”
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