FTC Strikes Again
Posted by Steve Van Beek
Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a settlement with Sony BMG Music Entertainment for violations of the Child Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Sony BMG agreed to pay $1 million to settle the alleged violations which is the largest penalty in a COPPA case. Here is some information on the alleged deficiencies in Sony BMG's website maintenance:
"The company operates over 1,000 Web sites for its musical artists and
labels. Sony Music requires users to submit a broad range of personal
information, together with date of birth, in order to register for
these sites. On 196 of these sites, Sony Music knowingly collected
personal information from at least 30,000 underage children without
first obtaining their parentsâ consent, in violation of COPPA. Many of
these sites also enable children to create personal fan pages, review
artistsâ albums, upload photos or videos, post comments on message
boards and in online forums, and engage in private messaging. In this
way, children were able to interact with Sony Music fans of all ages,
including adults."
But, here might be the clincher - they did not follow their own privacy policy:
"The FTCâÂÂs complaint also charges Sony Music with violating Section 5 of
the Federal Trade Commission Act by falsely stating in its privacy
policy that users who indicate that they are under 13 on its Web site
registration pages will be restricted from participating in Sony
MusicâÂÂs web page activities. In fact, Sony Music accepted registrations
from children who entered a date of birth indicating that they were
under 13."
Here is a link to a May blog posting by Anthony that discusses COPPA and contains links to FTC and NCUA guidance regarding COPPA compliance.Â
Have a safe, warm weekend.Â