LANSING, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined a bipartisan group of 24 other AG’s in urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to help better protect minors in an online setting
Specifically, the group is urging that the FTC strengthen its rules prohibiting websites, mobile applications, and other digital marketing companies from collecting and using the personal information of children under the age of 13.
“My colleagues and I have come together to provide meaningful suggestions to strengthen the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act rule which would benefit Michigan’s children through enhanced privacy measures,” Nessel said in a statement. “To ensure that we’re keeping up with the ever-changing landscape of technology, fortifying the walls between young children and those looking to prey on them is crucial.”
Nessel says that since 1996, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) has prohibited collecting information such as voice recordings, browser histories, and other online data from children under 13.
The group says that the FTC should do the following:
- expand its definition of personal information to include items such as faceprints used to unlock cellphones, health data from internet-connected smart watches, and kids’ genetic information.
- crack down on companies who embed code in children’s mobile applications and collect data to target children with behavioral advertising; and to examine how the rules apply to school-issued laptops that are “free” so long as companies get to collect information from the students using them.
- should not create exceptions to the rule such as allowing platforms that host both child-directed and general audience content to work around COPPA’s requirements.
The letter to the FTC was submitted on Monday, Dec. 9th.
