Did you know that it’s against the law to fart in public in Florida after 6pm? Or that it’s illegal to go trick-or-treating on Halloween in a small town in Delaware if it falls on a Sunday? What about this one: did you know it’s actually against the law for tech companies to share or sell your kid’s data without your verifiable consent? You might be especially surprised by that last one, because tech companies do it so frequently and with such impunity. According to a study conducted by fraud and compliance software company Pixilate, more than two-thirds of the 1,000 apps in the App Store most likely to be used by children collect and share their data with the advertising industry. In the Play Store, the number is 79 percent.
As tech columnist Geoffrey A. Fowler points out, our kids are especially vulnerable when data is misused, because many of them can’t tell the difference between content and advertisements. That’s why there’s a law on the books that protects their privacy. It’s called the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and yes, it is far from perfect. It was written in 1998, and could certainly stand some updates—but the thing that stops it from being effective today isn’t its age.
COPPA has been used successfully to hold big tech companies like Google and TikTok accountable. But it isn’t effectively protecting our children for two reasons. First, it isn’t really applied that much. The majority of the time, when companies violate our kids’ privacy, absolutely nothing happens. And second, even when companies are held responsible under COPPA, the fines tend to be minuscule compared to their bottom lines. When YouTube was hit with a $170M fine for violating children’s privacy, experts estimated that sum was half a day’s cash flow for parent company Google. And, when TikTok was fined $5.7M for violating children’s privacy, parent company ByteDance was worth $75B.
Clearly, our kids need access to technology. It’s part of life today. As a society, we definitely need more tools to help keep kids safe online—but we should also start using the existing tools more. COPPA actually has pretty strict requirements for platforms that create kids’ products. I know first-hand, because the apps we build at Kinzoo are compliant with COPPA (and Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation–Kids, which is even more strict). There are lots of extra steps we take to make sure we’re following the rules, and we’d take them even if COPPA didn’t exist, because we believe kids deserve safety online. But according to the research, more than two-thirds of apps likely to be used by kids apparently share their information with advertisers and data brokers.
This has been happening since tech companies started collecting data, but we’re hearing a lot more about it now. Recently, it was revealed that Life360 was selling children’s precise location data. And apparently the apps and platforms that our kids were using during remote school were sharing their data at an alarming rate. The problem is pretty much as old as the internet, and ironically, we have a solution at our disposal that’s almost as old. We just need to use it. COPPA isn’t perfect, but applying it is better than doing nothing.
Obviously, that’s easier said than done. The Federal Trade Commission is responsible for enforcing COPPA, and there needs to be enough political will and funding to enable them to do so. That might sound a little bleak, but the good news is that people are talking about children’s privacy more. Journalists are writing about it and lawmakers are paying attention. And, the more noise we make, the better chance we have of making COPPA count. Otherwise, it’s about as useful as law restricting farts in public.
A deeper dive
Here are a few helpful resources in case you want to really dig into today's topic:
Of all the things the pandemic threw at parents, remote schooling was undoubtedly one of the most challenging. And while supervising antsy children while they sat in virtual class was a far from ideal experience, I shudder to think what life would have been like without the technology that kept their learning going. It was necessary. And because the apps, platforms and programs were a literal lifeline—it feels like a special kind of betrayal to learn that they were sharing kids’ data at a dizzying pace.
One of the ways that tech companies try and skirt COPPA is by turning a blind eye to the fact that children are using their platforms. This is how TikTok found itself in trouble. The FTC alleged that “TikTok was aware that a “significant percentage” of its users were younger than 13, and that it received thousands of complaints from parents whose underage children had created accounts.”
TL;DR
Too long; didn't read. It shouldn't be a full-time job to keep up on industry news, so here is a mercifully quick summary of some other notable developments:
When you talk about data privacy, the conversation always comes back to privacy policies eventually. Because they’re legal documents, privacy policies can be really difficult to understand—and a lot of questionable companies intentionally use that to their advantage. If you’re confused by these documents and struggle to understand what they mean for your children, you’re not alone. Just read this quote from FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter: “I have four children between the ages of 2 and 9. I literally couldn’t—even if I didn’t have a job—micromanage each piece of technology they interact with. But when we live in a universe that says we’re given a ‘choice,’ I feel like I’m failing as a parent if my kid’s data is shared because I have given ‘consent’ and I probably should have been watching more carefully. That’s an incredibly punishing burden.”
According to Epic, a kids’ reading platform, children are reading at record levels in 2022. One cool insights they shared is about the kinds of books kids were drawn to in the previous year: “As schools reopened in 2021, kids craved excitement—from their books. Favorite topics in 2021 included Adventure and Fantasy books filled with magic and mythical creatures. Then, as they began spending more time exploring the world outside their homes, they also spent more time exploring new worlds in books.”
And lastly
Here are a few more pieces of original writing from me and my team—just in case you're keen for more:
If you’re interested in learning more about what you can do to protect your kids’ data privacy, check out this article from my team. We get to interview lots of experts in the industry, and we put together some of the best privacy insights, all in one place.
We also got a chance to sit down with Kavin Wadhar, the founder of KidCoach. His company helps other parents play an active role in their children’s development and education. (Pro Tip: you can find KidCoach in the Paths Center in Kinzoo!) When we interviewed him, he shared some insights on how we can help future-proof our kids, and you can find them here.
Okay, that's it from me until next time. If you enjoyed this newsletter, and know of another parent who would as well, please feel free to forward it along.