The growth of action sports has largely been fueled by fans
under 18, and on-line marketing companies targeting that audience
have followed. Whether it's Quiksilver, Monster Energy Drinks
or ESPN X Games, the look and feel of the typical action
sports-related website is young, edgy, authentic. Action sports
marketers need to be aware, however, of the panoply of laws that
regulate marketing to kids, including the federal Children's
Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). COPPA prohibits the online
collection of personal information from kids under 13 without
verifiable parental consent. It's enforced by the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) and the advertising industry's self-regulatory
forum, the Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU).
COPPA applies to commercial websites or online services that are
targeted to children under 13 and to general audience websites that
knowingly collect information from children under 13. To determine
whether a website is targeted to children, the FTC considers
several factors including the subject matter, visual or audio
content, the age of models on the site, language, and whether
advertising on the website is directed to children.
COPPA requires these websites to:
- Post a privacy policy outlining their information collection practices;
- Provide notice to parents of their information collection practices;
- Get prior verified parental consent if the website collects personal information from children under 13;
- Provide access to the information collected and the opportunity to delete such information; and
- Maintain reasonable procedures to protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of such information.
Most COPPA violations seem to fall into one of three categories:
websites that don't adequately block kids under 13 from using
the site; websites that collect personal information from kids
under 13 without first obtaining parental consent; and websites
that require kids to provide personal information as a condition of
playing a game or entering a sweepstakes.
For example, CARU investigated Sports Illustrated Kids, the
operator of the Battle MAX website, which was offering a "Take
Your Best Shot Sweepstakes." The print version of Sports
Illustrated Kids magazine included a print advertisement for the
sweepstakes and an address for the website. CARU was concerned that
the sweepstakes registration process allowed children to sign up
for an electronic newsletter without parental notification or an
opt-out. Also, CARU found that the site contained a link to the Dew
Action Sports Tour website, at www.dewactionsportstour.com
– a site that collected personally identifiable
information, such as full name, street address, email address, etc,
from all visitors without prior parental consent, and did not
screen for age. After being notified by CARU, Sports Illustrated
Kids immediately removed the link to the electronic newsletter and
also removed the link to Dew Action Sports Tour.
COPPA applies to individually identifiable information about a
child, such as full name, home address, email address, telephone
number or any other information that would allow someone to
identify or contact the child. COPPA also covers other types of
information -- for example, hobbies, interests and information
collected through cookies or other types of tracking mechanisms --
when they are tied to individually identifiable information.
Perhaps the most onerous part of complying with COPPA is getting
verifiable parental consent before collecting any personal
information from kids. There is a sliding-scale for obtaining this
consent: how a website obtains the consent depends on how the
website uses the child's personal information. If the website
uses the information for internal purposes, a less rigorous method
of consent is required. However, if the website discloses the
information to others, the situation presents greater dangers to
children, and a more reliable method of consent is required.
Websites may use email to get parental consent for all internal
uses of personal information, such as marketing back to a child
based on his or her preferences or communicating promotional
updates about site content, as long as they take additional steps
to increase the likelihood that the parent has, in fact, provided
the consent. For example, websites might seek confirmation from a
parent in a delayed confirmatory email, or confirm the parent's
consent by letter or phone call.
When websites want to disclose a child's personal information
to third parties or make it publicly available (for example,
through a chat room or message board), the sliding scale requires
them to use a more reliable method of consent, including getting a
signed form from the parent via postal mail or fax; accepting and
verifying a credit card number in connection with a transaction;
taking calls from parents, through a toll-free telephone number
staffed by trained personnel; or email accompanied by digital
signature. In the case of a monitored chat room, if all
individually identifiable information is stripped from postings
before it is made public -- and the information is deleted from the
operator's records – a website does not have to get
prior parental consent.
There are a few other exceptions under COPPA that allow websites to
collect a child's email address without getting the
parent's consent in advance. These exceptions cover many
popular online activities for kids, including contests, online
newsletters, homework help and electronic postcards. Prior parental
consent is not required when a website collects a child's or
parent's email address to provide notice and seek consent; a
website collects an email address to respond to a one-time request
from a child and then deletes it; or a website collects an email
address to respond more than once to a specific request -- say, for
a subscription to a newsletter. In that case, the website must
notify the parent that it is communicating regularly with the child
and give the parent the opportunity to stop the communication
before sending or delivering a second communication to a
child.
Although an investigation by CARU does not result in fines, the FTC
has the authority to impose substantial fines for websites that
violate COPPA. The FTC recently announced that Sony BMG Music had
agreed to pay a $1,000,000 penalty to settle charges that it
violated COPPA. Sony operates hundreds of fan websites and,
according to the FTC, many of these sites required users to submit
a broad range of personal information, together with date of birth,
in order to register for these sites. The FTC also said that Sony
collected personal information from at least 30,000 underage
children without first obtaining their parents' consent, and
the websites enabled children to create personal fan pages, review
artists' albums, upload photos or videos, post comments on
message boards and in online forums, and engage in private
messaging. The FTC also said that the Sony websites did not block
registrations from kids under 13.
Conclusion
Although action sports companies often search for
edginess, when it comes to promoting action sports events,
personalities, and merchandise to kids, marketers should be wary of
the rules that limit their activities.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.