The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) 1998 has caused unintended consequences for many companies, Congress was told yesterday.
“While the drafts of COPPA had the right intentions, it’s unfortunate that their lack of foresight into the law’s effects could mean an end to many of the most educational, creative and fun Web sites available to kids,” Jonathan Zuck, president of the Association for Competitive Technology, a Washington, DC-based trade group, told the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Trade and Consumer Protection.
For example, Zeeks.com pulled all its interactive content because of the cost of compliance–$200,000 a year, Zuck noted.
Freezone, a Web portal for children, must pay $100,000 a year to provide chat room monitors, he continued.
Zuck added that a ZD Net report showing that compliance will cost Web site operators up to $500,000 a year.
Last week, the Annenberg Public Policy Center said in a report that firms are not complying with COPPA (DIRECT Newsline, March 29). Of 162 Web sites examined, one in ten did not have a privacy policy on their home pages, and 14 had no privacy policies at all, the study said.
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