SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
House lawmakers introduce bill to update children's online privacy law:
A pair of House lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill Thursday to update a decades-old law designed to protect children's online privacy. The bill comes amid growing concern that children are encountering increasingly sophisticated threats online.
The Preventing Real Online Threats Endangering Children Today Act (PDF), introduced by Republican Rep. Tim Walberg of Michigan and Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush of Illinois, aims to strengthen the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) to address the ever-evolving digital landscape, the lawmakers said.
"Children today are more connected online and face dangers that we could not have imagined years ago," Walberg said in a statement. "While advancements in technology allows for many benefits, it also poses a risk for our kids."
The legislation would allow parents to force companies to delete any private information they've collected about their children. It would also raise the raise the age of parental consent protections from the current 13 years of age to 16.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Saturday January 11 2020, @10:13PM (6 children)
If they don't enforce the existing laws, why would a new law be of any benefit?
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by Booga1 on Saturday January 11 2020, @11:25PM (4 children)
It's beneficial for politicians. They get to point to something and say, "Here's what I've done for you! Vote for me!"
In fact, laws that aren't enforced lead exactly to this situation where people call for more laws, which perpetuates the cycle.
Virtually nobody else benefits except police and prosecutors who can add one more thing to hang over someone's head when they get hauled in for breaking some law or another.
(Score: 2) by Booga1 on Saturday January 11 2020, @11:30PM (3 children)
Forgot a couple of other groups that benefit. Large corporations and lawyers in general.
More laws mean higher barriers to entry for new competitors. Regulatory capture, etc...
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 12 2020, @02:15AM (2 children)
COPPA 2.0 will hasten the death of YouTube and benefit the Russian and Chinese replacements waiting in the wings.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 12 2020, @04:53AM (1 child)
Does anyone provide their real age to youtube?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 12 2020, @05:50AM
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2019/11/youtube-channel-owners-your-content-directed-children [ftc.gov]
YouTubers are now afraid of getting fined $42,530 per video if the FTC determines it is improper content for kids. If you label it as kid content, features will be disabled and you can get fined. If you don't label it as kid content, you will get less monetization and you can get fined. More laws will make it more confusing.
YouTube is #1 but it will die if creators can't monetize their content.
(Score: 2) by DrkShadow on Sunday January 12 2020, @05:29AM
Consider alternatively.
Sites like Faceplant, TikTok, online forums, just about everywhere say "You're not welcome to use this site if you're under 13 years of age, unless you have a parent sign and return this form." They do actively remove accounts of such underaged people -- and this law is the reason why. It's everywhere.
What do you suppose will happen if this law is raised to 16 years? Is Faceplant going to chop off all their 13-15 users? Probably not. Are forums going to remove every -16 user? Probably. (Except Reddit?)
Having that one change will really cause online services to rethink their privacy as a whole, for a whole lot more people.