Two bills, the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) and the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) are now headed to the U.S. House after passing the Senate on a 91-to-3 vote Tuesday afternoon. If approved, the measures would mark a major step in regulating tech giants and addressing kids online safety, ranging from cyber-bullying to suicide. But the effort is not without controversy.
U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana supports the bills, which update online data privacy rules for children. “They cannot track or otherwise obtain data on those who are 17 and below. This is when kids are most vulnerable to peer pressure,” began Cassidy.
Sen. Cassidy disagrees with those who say that COPPA 2.0 borders on censorship. Other critics say it violates internet companies’ First Amendment rights. Cassidy concluded, “Case law has firmly established that those who are younger deserve and even require special protections. We’ve already done that. And this is nothing but an extension of those laws.” As the Louisiana Radio Network reports, Cassidy says COPPA 2.0 is no different than banning cigarette ads directed at minors.
Specifically, COPPA 2.0 not only raises the maximum age of children covered under the law from 13 to 17, but also updates the definition of personal information. It would include biometric indicators, like fingerprints, facial imagery, voiceprints and gait. The legislation would also close a loophole which allows companies to track kids if they don’t have information they are underage.
EXCEPTION:
But in trying to strike a balance between commercial activity and safety, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) added a "carve out" that allows for a limited version of something called “contextual advertising” to minors. As explained in a recent article by adexchanger.com, this exception "allows companies to collect personal information from a child without parental consent "if" the data is used to support the internal operations of a site or service."
The rationale for the carve-out: "contextual advertising does not rely on cookies or other personal identifiers." As such, it has become the de facto monitization method for many child-directed websites.
Actually, the exception has been in place since 2013, long before COPPA 2.0 legislation emerged. That said, there's debate about how 2.0 might put more limits on contextual advertising, if the legislation is approved.
KOSA aims to protect children from online addiction to abuse. It does so by creating a “duty of care.” That means the tech companies can be held responsible for material they recommend which harms their mental health. Critics have complained that such restrictions could lead to overly broad censorship that creates barriers for finding information online.
