Dive Brief:
- The Federal Trade Commission has finalized the expansion of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule by requiring parents to opt into third-party targeted advertising on behalf of their children.
- The final rule, published Jan. 17 in the Federal Register, also implements limits on retaining children’s personal information. It notes that companies cannot hold onto that data indefinitely — but does not specify a duration.
- At the same time, the FTC left out a provision from the proposed rule that would have allowed school districts to authorize ed tech providers to collect, use and disclose students’ data for school purposes and not for commercial use.
Dive Insight:
The final regulations mean there are still no exemptions for ed tech companies under the FTC's enforcement of the COPPA Rule.
Allowing districts to authorize ed tech vendors to collect, use and disclosef student data would have been an unprecedented move, said Andrew Liddell, an attorney at the Ed Tech Law Center.
“There would have been no limit on what a school could authorize a tech company to collect about a child,” Liddell said. This “would have eliminated parents’ or kids’ ability to object to that collection.”
The Ed Tech Law Center is representing plaintiffs in two class action lawsuits against ed tech companies IXL Learning and PowerSchool over claims that the providers monetized the data of millions of school-age children without parental consent.
COPPA is a 27-year-old federal law that gives parents control over the data that websites can gather from children younger than 13. The COPPA Rule is a regulation under which the FTC enforces additional protections and establishes other procedures that these companies must follow.
The FTC said the change to the COPPA Rule comes at a time when companies are increasingly profiting off of children’s data.
In the final rule, the FTC did not amend the COPPA Rule regarding ed tech companies and schools since the U.S. Department of Education has announced plans to propose a rule in March to update the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Adding the amendment for ed tech in the COPPA Rule would potentially “conflict” with expected changes to FERPA.
However, things could change given the change in administrations.
Considering President Donald Trump has called for eliminating the Education Department, Liddell said new proposed regulations may be an “uphill battle.” At the same time, he noted that student data privacy is often a bipartisan issue.
In a Jan. 16 statement, then-FTC Chair Lina Khan said the updated COPPA Rule will improve protections for children’s online privacy.
“By requiring parents to opt in to targeted advertising practices, this final rule prohibits platforms and service providers from sharing and monetizing children’s data without active permission. The FTC is using all its tools to keep kids safe online,” Khan said.
Khan also clarified in a separate Jan. 16 statement that the new requirement for parents to opt into third-party targeted advertising essentially means that “behavioral advertising towards kids must be off by default.” Additionally, the FTC’s latest COPPA Rule has expanded its definition of “personal information” to include biometric data like facial recognition or fingerprints.
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