FCC, FTC Advocate Stronger Online Privacy Rights for Children

Congress must amend COPPA, said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., in order to “take into account the tremendous changes that have occurred” since the law was enacted. “The least we can accomplish this year is provide a privacy bill of rights for children,” said Markey, co-chair of the House privacy caucus. Markey also recommended “commonsense” privacy provisions for teenagers and a potential “eraser” button so parents can exert more control over children’s online behaviors.

"I agree that a focus on children is a starting point that should be looked at,” said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. Empowering parents with technological tools and education is a crucial element of the solution in addition to advertising prohibitions that specifically target minors, he said. “We want to protect children and we are looking at it with respect to communications networks and working with innovators to develop tools.”

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., agreed on updating COPPA: “We need in America a comprehensive approach to privacy and it may be appropriate to start by updating the rules protecting children online,” she said. “COPPA never really anticipated these advancements.” Eshoo asked FCC, FTC and NTIA officials whether they had considered ways to ensure privacy protections for children and teenagers.

The FTC is conducting a review of COPPA rules, said FTC Commissioner Edith Ramirez, and the agency expects the recommendations to be released “shortly.” “We are examining the practical difficulties that apply with that statute,” she said. “The issue becomes of greater concern when it comes to teenagers.”

But lawmakers should be wary of tinkering too much with COPPA, TechFreedom founder Berin Szoka told us after the hearing. “If legislators or federal agencies try to expand COPPA they will break it,” said Szoka: “You get into huge problems, specifically with age verification, and this is something that has been lost on legislators.”

Communications Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., questioned whether legislation was necessary despite his own concerns about a lack of consumer privacy protections and transparency. “We want to make sure Americans have adequate information regarding how data about them and their Internet use is collected, used, and shared, and to make sure their privacy is protected,” he said. But “at this point, it is not clear what legislation, if any, is necessary.” Instead, Congress should consider whether to unify the regimes of the FCC and FTC or to separate their authorities over different subsets of services and companies, he said.

But legislation is indeed necessary to address consumers’ privacy concerns, Genachowski told members. “Some updating of the Communications Act’s network-oriented privacy regime is appropriate for the digital age,” he said. Such changes are essential to stem rising consumer privacy concerns which could create barriers to broadband adoption, cloud migration, and the growth of location-based services, he said.

Commissioners Ramirez and Genachowski sparred over which agency has jurisdiction over telecommunications carriers, specifically when it comes to consumer privacy protections. While Ramirez said the FTC should govern privacy restrictions over wireless service providers, Genachowski said the FCC has more experience in dealing with the privacy protections concerning both wireless and wireline networks. At this Ramirez back-peddled: “By no means should the FCC’s role be displaced,” she said, “but the FTC has important experience to bear.” At the very least, said Walden, “it is important that there be some cop on the beat.”