I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1781 

To amend the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 10, 2021 

Mr. WALBERG (for himself and Mr. RUSH) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 

1998. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing Real Online 

5 Threats Endangering Children Today Act’’ or the ‘‘PRO6 TECT Kids Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE CHILDREN’S ONLINE PRI8 VACY PROTECTION ACT OF 1998. 

9 The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 

10 (15 U.S.C. 6501 et seq.) is amended— 


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1 (1) by inserting ‘‘, including a service provided 

2 through a mobile application,’’ after ‘‘online service’’ 

3 each place it appears; 

4 (2) in section 1302— 

5 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘age of 

6 13’’ and inserting ‘‘age of 16’’; 

7 (B) in paragraph (8)— 

8 (i) in the matter preceding subpara9 graph (A), by inserting ‘‘including a serv10 ice provided through a mobile application’’ 

11 after ‘‘collected online’’; 

12 (ii) by redesignating subparagraphs 

13 (F) and (G) as subparagraphs (H) and (I), 

14 respectively; and 

15 (iii) by inserting after subparagraph 

16 (E) the following: 

17 ‘‘(F) precise geolocation information; 

18 ‘‘(G) biometric information;’’; and 

19 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(13) MOBILE APPLICATION.—The term ‘mo21 bile application’ means a software program that 

22 runs on the operating system of— 

23 ‘‘(A) a mobile telephone; 

24 ‘‘(B) a tablet computer; or 


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1 ‘‘(C) a similar portable computing device 

2 that transmits data over a wireless connection. 

3 ‘‘(14) BIOMETRIC INFORMATION.—The term 

4 ‘biometric information’ means the record of any 

5 unique, immutable biological attribute or measure6 ment generated by automatic measurements of a 

7 consumer’s biological characteristics, including fin8 gerprints, genetic information, iris or retina pat9 terns, facial characteristics, or hand geometry, that 

10 are used to uniquely and durably authenticate the 

11 identity of a consumer when such consumer accesses 

12 a physical location, device, system, or account. 

13 ‘‘(15) PRECISE GEOLOCATION INFORMATION.— 

14 The term ‘precise geolocation information’ means 

15 historical or real-time location information, or infer16 ences drawn from other information, capable of iden17 tifying the location of an individual or a consumer 

18 device of an individual with specificity sufficient to 

19 identify street level location information or an indi20 vidual’s or device’s location within a range of 1,640 

21 feet or less.’’; and 

22 (3) in section 1303(b)— 

23 (A) in paragraph (1)— 


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1 (i) in subparagraph (A)(I), by insert2 ing ‘‘or mobile application’’ after 

3 ‘‘website’’; and 

4 (ii) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by strik5 ing ‘‘use or maintenance in retrievable 

6 form, or future online collection’’ and in7 serting ‘‘collection or use’’; and 

8 (B) by amending paragraph (3) to read as 

9 follows: 

10 ‘‘(3) CONTINUATION OF SERVICE.—The regula11 tions shall— 

12 ‘‘(A) prohibit the operator of a website, on13 line service, or mobile application from termi14 nating service provided to a child whose parent 

15 has refused, under the regulations prescribed 

16 under paragraph (1)(B)(ii), to permit the oper17 ator’s further collection or use of personal in18 formation from that child, or has required such 

19 operator to delete such information; and 

20 ‘‘(B) require the operator, upon request of 

21 a parent whose child has provided personal in22 formation to that website or, online service, in23 cluding a service provided through a mobile ap24 plication, upon proper identification of that parVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:17 May 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1781.IH H1781

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1 ent, to delete any personal information collected 

2 from such child.’’. 

3 SEC. 3. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION STUDY. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

5 (1) Not later than 2 years after the date of en6 actment of this Act, the Commission shall conduct 

7 a study on the knowledge standard found in section 

8 1303(a)(1) of the Children’s Online Privacy Protec9 tion Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6501 et seq.). 

10 (2) In conducting such study, the Commission 

11 shall— 

12 (A) consider whether the existing knowl13 edge standard is still appropriate for accom14 plishing the goals of this Act; 

15 (B) consider the affect changing such 

16 knowledge standard will have on children’s on17 line privacy, including whether it will increase 

18 or decrease such privacy; 

19 (C) consider the feasibility of complying 

20 with any change to such knowledge standard; 

21 (D) whether any Federal agency has stud22 ied such change; and 

23 (E) whether any think tank or privacy ad24 vocacy or digital rights group has studied such 

25 a change. 


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1 (3) Based on the study, the Commission shall— 

2 (A) develop recommendations as to wheth3 er the knowledge standard should be changed; 

4 (B) develop recommendations as to what 

5 the new knowledge standard should be, if ap6 propriate; 

7 (C) provide the basis for its recommenda8 tion to change the knowledge standard, if ap9 propriate; 

10 (D) cite examples of Federal agency stud11 ies on changing the knowledge standard; and 

12 (E) cite examples of think tank or privacy 

13 advocacy or digital rights group studies on 

14 changing the knowledge standard. 

15 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Following completion of 

16 the study pursuant to subsection (a), the Commission shall 

17 report the results and recommendations to the Committee 

18 on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives 

19 and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor20 tation of the Senate. 

Æ 


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