HHR New Media, Entertainment and Technology Group

A prominent developer of mobile applications, W3 Innovations, LLC, the parent company of Broken Thumb Apps (“W3”), has agreed to pay $50,000 to settle charges brought by the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) in its first enforcement action involving mobile applications (“apps”), according to terms of the settlement announced last week. The FTC’s complaint, filed on August 12, 2011, alleged that W3, which develops and distributes mobile apps for Apple and Android devices, several of which are directed at children and are listed in the “Games-Kids” section of the iTunes App Store, violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by illegally collecting personal information from children under the age of 13 without prior parental consent.  Continue Reading »

In a move applauded by a wide coalition of companies doing business online, Maine’s attorney general recently decided that she will not enforce a law banning the use of personal information about minors for marketing purposes that went into effect on September 12. 

The ”Act To Prevent Predatory Marketing Practices against Minors“, prohibits companies from collecting personal information–such as name and e-mail address–from minors without receiving verifiable parental consent.  The restrictions are considerably broader than the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”), applying to information related to everyone under 18 (COPPA is limited to children under 13) and extending to such information collected offline as well as on.   Continue Reading »

The FTC announced today that Sony BMG Music has agreed to pay a $1 million fine to settle charges that it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). 

COPPA requires website operators to meet specific requirements prior to collecting children’s personal information, including:

• posting a privacy policy with a notice of what information it collects from children and how it uses such information;
• obtaining verifiable parental consent prior to collecting, using or disclosing children’s information; and
• providing parents with the option to consent to the collection and internal use of their children’s information without consenting to disclosure to third parties.

The Act applies to any website that has actual knowledge it collects, uses and disclosed personal information from children.  Continue Reading »