COPPA

COPPA (a.k.a. the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998) is a United States law that forbids websites from collecting information of children 12 and under without permission from their parents.
While intended to protect them and their privacy, the law has been criticized for being ineffective, its large fine per violation ($40,000) and implication of applying to non-U.S. residents among other reasons."Update: COPPA is Ineffective Legislation! Next Steps for Protecting Youth Privacy Rights in the Social Networking Era". Journal of Lawn and Social Policy. 2010."Unintended Consequences of FTC's New COPPA Children's Online Privacy Rules". The Huffington Post. August 4, 2012."Why parents help their children lie to Facebook about age: Unintended consequences of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act". First Monday. November 7, 2011."Parents help kids lie to get on Facebook, study finds". CNN. November 1, 2011."Verifying Ages Online Is a Daunting Task, Even for Experts". The New York Times. June 17, 2012."How the New COPPA Requirements Are Bad for Businesses and Kids". Fast Company. June 28, 2013."IAB: Proposed Children's Privacy Rules Undermine Business Model". Online Media Daily. September 25, 2012.
==Jiggmin's Village==
COPPA was unenforced during the first several years of Jiggmin's Village's life, likely due to Jiggmin and the staff's unawareness of it.
A thread was later started in May 2012 discussing the law, where reactions were divided. Moderators considered enforcing it to avoid the site facing potential legal repercussions."JV Historical Reference Guide". Acid Forums. August 2015./threads/83955-13-Age-Limit-for-JV < (Now lost) Members on the other hand disagreed because of a general dislike of COPPA. They considered the age cut-off too arbitrary in measuring maturity, along with users easily being able to bypass it by lying. The forum also had a large number of European and other worldwide members who felt it shouldn't apply to them.
Following extensive discussion, Jiggmin announced COPPA would be enforced from then on, banning anyone below age 13. The decision was controversial after it lead to the loss of a few well liked users, while others praised it for removing ones they saw as immature or annoying. Jiggmin offered a printable forum for a banned member's parents to sign and mail to his P.O. box in order to satisfy the law's requirements, however it was mostly unadvertised so the vast majority simply waited until they turned 13 to return.
==References==
Category:Events
Category:Jiggmin's Village Articles