Yes. COPPA doesn’t need you to allow kids under age 13 to take part in your present market site or online solution, and you will block kiddies from participating in the event that you so select. By comparison, you might not block children from taking part in a site or online solution that is directed to kids as defined because of the Rule. See FAQ D. 2 above.
If you decide to block kiddies under 13 on the general market website or solution, you should take time to design your actual age display screen in a fashion that will not encourage young ones to falsify their many years to get usage of your web site or solution. Ask age information in a manner that is neutral the point where you ask people to offer information that is personal or even produce a person ID.
In addition, in line with long standing Commission advice, FTC staff suggests employing a cookie to stop kiddies from back-buttoning to enter a various age. Observe that in the event that you ask individuals to enter age information, then you fail either to display screen out kiddies under age 13 or even to get their parents’ permission to gathering these children’s private information, you might be accountable for breaking COPPA. See, e.g., the FTC’s COPPA instances against Path, Inc., Playdom, Inc. And Sony BMG musical Entertainment.
Under the Rule’s one-time response exception (16 C.F.R. § 312.5(c)(3)) you are permitted to send a response to the child, via the child’s online contact information, without sending notice to the parent or obtaining parental consent if I receive a request for an email response from a player who indicates. But, you have to delete the child’s online contact information from your documents quickly when you deliver your reaction. You might not utilize the child’s online contact information to re-contact the young child(or even for virtually any function), or disclose the child’s online contact information. Keep in mind that you must still immediately delete the child’s personal information from your records if you choose not to respond to the child’s inquiry. Furthermore visit the website, such a contact can provide you real knowledge if you had previously collected the child’s email address as part of a website registration process) that you have collected personal information from a child (e.g.,. This kind of a scenario, you would have to do something to ensure you will be complying with COPPA, such as for example acquiring parental permission or straight away deleting any private information collected from the youngster.
The COPPA Rule isn’t triggered in this situation. The Rule relates to an operator of the basic market internet site if this has real knowledge that a certain visitor is a kid. If a kid articles personal information on a basic market website or solution but doesn’t expose his age, of course the operator does not have any other information that will lead it to understand that the customer is a kid, then operator wouldn’t be considered to own obtained “actual knowledge” beneath the Rule and wouldn’t be susceptible to the Rule’s needs.
Nonetheless, also where a kid himself hasn’t revealed their age on a niche site or solution, an operator may acquire knowledge that is actual it later learns of a child’s age – for instance, through a written report from a concerned moms and dad who’s got found that her youngster is participating on the website. Where an operator understands that a particular visitor is a kid, the operator must either meet COPPA’s notice and parental permission needs or delete the child’s information.
If no body in your company is conscious of the post, you might not need the necessity real knowledge under the Rule. But, perhaps you are thought to have real knowledge where a kid announces her age under particular circumstances, as an example, in the event that you monitor your posts, in case a accountable person in your company views the post, or if some one alerts one to the post (age.g., a concerned moms and dad whom learns that their child is participating on the website).