The FTC has published its rules on children s privacy, the first broadly applicable U.S. rule directly aimed at Internet privacy. The Act gave the Federal Trade Commission a year to establish rules protecting children from perceived abuses in collecting and disclosing information about them. Notwithstanding the Rules focus on children s privacy, they will have broad effects on consumer-oriented Internet sites. The general nature of the Rules is fairly straightforward. Of course, the interpretation and application of these principles has important detail.
Operator includes a person offering products or services for sale through the Web site.
This would exclude nonprofit organizations sites and personal home pages with guestbooks. But a company which outsources hosting of its site would still be considered the operator of the site. However, operator does not include a person that supports the technical operation of the site, such as a hosting service or a fulfillment company, which does not use the information for other purposes. A business serving ads would not be an operator subject to the Rules unless it is collecting personal information known to come from children. Others to whom personal information might be disclosed are third parties and are not covered by the Rules, although parents can prohibit disclosure to third parties.