Sony’s music division agreed yesterday to pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the federal government alleging that the company knowingly collected and used personal data from as many as 30,000 children under the age of 13.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday by the Federal Trade commission through the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, charged that Sony BMG (soon to execute a name change to Sony Music Entertainment) improperly accepted registration on its music Web sites from users under the age of 13, without getting the express consent of their parents.
The suit alleged that since 2004, at least 30,000 children under age 13 have registered on Sony’s 1,100 online music sites and social blogs without having Sony seek their parents’ permission, and that the company had “actual knowledge” of these age violations.
The lawsuit claimed that all registrants—even those signing up with a birthdate that indicated they were under 13—were allowed to enter, create profile pages, receive e-mail newsletters and SMS messages and interact with other members, including adults.
Although the suit charged that Sony also disclosed some of that information, it did not specify whether that disclosure consisted of posting the information for other site members to see or of sharing the information with third parties for marketing purposes.
Taking those underage sign-ups would constitute violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule, which is enforced by the FTC.
In the lawsuit, the commission said Sony sites had collected personal information ranging from names, addresses and birth dates to mobile phone numbers, e-mail addresses and usernames.
Sony agreed to make the lawsuit go away by paying a $1 million fine and to hire a compliance officer to implement safeguards to prevent future collection of data from young children.
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