HOW TO PROTECT KIDS PRIVACY ONLINE

 Website Operators Teachers

A GUIDE FOR TEACHERS

MUST get a parents consent.

In many cases, a site must obtain parental consent

before collecting, using or disclosing personal

information about a child. Consent is not required

when a site is collecting an email address to:

◆ respond to a one-time request from a child.

◆ provide notice to the parent.

◆ ensure the safety of the child or the site.

◆ send a newsletter or other information on a

regular basis as long as the site notifies a

parent and gives them a chance to say no to

the arrangement.

May act in place of a parent in deciding whether

to give consent.

Consent from a parent authorizes the website to

collect personal information from your student.

Subject to your school districts policies, you may

act on behalf of the parent in giving consent, but

COPPA does not require you to do so. If you or

the parent do not consent to the collection, use or

disclosure of the students personal information, the

students participation in an online activity may be

limited to areas of the site where personal information is not necessary.

You can give consent and still say no to having your

students information passed along to a third party.

A parent or teachers consent isnt necessary if the

website is collecting a childs email address simply to

respond to a one-time request for information.

Must get new consent when informationcollection practices change in a material way.

Website operators need to notify parents and get

consent again if they plan to change the kinds of

information they collect, change how they use the

information, or offer the information to new and

different third parties. For example, new consent

would be required if the website decides to:

◆ send information from children to marketers of

diet pills instead of only marketers of stuffed

animals, as covered in the original consent.

◆ give a child access to a chat room if the original consent covered only sending a newsletter.

May decide whether to approve information

collection from students based on new uses for

the information.

Website operators will let you know about the need

for new consent by sending you a new notice and

request. They will do this when they are changing

the terms-of-use of the information in a material

or significant way.

Whether playing, shopping, studying or just surfing, todays kids are taking advantage of all that the

web has to offer. But when it comes to their personal information, whos in charge? The Childrens Online

Privacy Protection Act, enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, requires commercial website operators to get parental consent before collecting any personal information from kids under 13. COPPA allows

teachers to act on behalf of a parent during school activities online, but does not require them to do so.

That is, the law does not require teachers to make decisions about the collection of their students personal

information. Check to see whether your school district has a policy about disclosing student information.

Heres a look at the basic provisions of the law and what they mean for you and your students.

 ■ Federal Trade Commission ■
Many school districts are adopting Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs) to educate parents and students about

Internet use and issues of online privacy and safety, and seek parental consent for their childrens use of the

Internet. For example, an AUP may tell parents about the privacy policies of online services with which a

school has contracts and students use of non-contract websites. It may include cautions against children

disclosing personal information to websites  such as their full name, home or email address, and telephone

number. Or it may tell parents that the school has established classroom email accounts rather than individual

accounts if email communication is necessary between students and online services.

The bottom line for teachers: Look around. Many websites do not require children to provide any personal

information to participate. Other sites limit their collection to personal information that is necessary for the

activity.

If you want more information about privacy online or if you suspect a violation of the Childrens Online

Privacy Protection Rule, contact the FTC, toll-free, at 1-877-FTC-HELP (TDD: 202-326-2502); or online at

www.ftc.gov/kidzprivacy.

December 2000

Federal Trade Commission Toll-free 1-877-FTC-HELP

www.ftc.gov For the Consumer

Must allow parents to review personal

information collected from their children.

To do this, website operators must verify the

identity of the requesting parent.

May ask to see the information students have

submitted.

The site will ask you to verify your identity to

ensure that your students information isnt given

out improperly.

Must allow parents to revoke their consent,

and delete information collected from their

children at the parents request.

Parents can revoke their consent and ask that

information about their child be deleted from the

sites database. When a parent revokes consent,

the website must stop collecting, using or disclosing information from that child. The site may end

a childs participation in an activity if the information it collected was necessary for participation in

the websites activity.

Understand that you may revoke your consent

at any time and have your students information

deleted.

To stop a website from collecting additional information from your student, you can revoke your

consent. You also may ask a site to delete any

personal information it has already collected from

your student.

Website Operators Teachers