Web Site Fined $1 Million for COPPA Violations

Xanga.com Inc (Xanga), an online social networking web site, has been fined $1 million by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for violations of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). COPPA stipulates that web site operators cannot collect personal information from children under 13 without obtaining verifiable consent from the parents. COPPA applies not only to sites that are directed at children under 13, but also to general web sites where the operator knows that children under 13 frequent the site. During the sign-up process for the Xanga site, registrants had to certify that they were over the age of 13 by clicking on two check-boxes. Later in the registration process, Xanga collected the birth date of the user as well as other personal information. According to the FTC complaint, the company permitted over 1.7 million individuals whose birth date identified them as less than 13 years old to register accounts in this way. Later, the personal information that was collected in this way was posted to Xanga's web site. The Xanga prosecution should act as a powerful incentive for web site operators in the US to act responsibly in terms of compliance with COPPA. For the text of the FTC's Press Release, visit: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2006/09/xanga.htm Summary by: James Kosa