Working with COPPA

A new online venture of mine requires date of birth on registration. I want to you know your thoughts on working with COPPA. The terms don't seem too hard to meet, but some of it looks like it could get messy, and complicated. For example, you need consent from a parent if the child is under 13. This would mean the child entering the parents email, then an email being dispatched to them where they must verify. (We're talking extra coding). However, the dilemma is that the 11-13 year old is a valuable audience for this type of site. I notice MySpace doesn't accept <13...

I can't decide whether it is worth the hassle or not. Anyone have experience with running COPPA-friendly sites?

The only site I know of that would have relevant experience would be neopets. After doing some digging it appears they require the parent to send a letter in consenting.

Originally Posted by Village Idiot The only site I know of that would have relevant experience would be neopets. After doing some digging it appears they require the parent to send a letter in consenting.

Quite a long, lengthy process if you ask me. I don't particularly want to be having to manage a site offline (in that sense). I think an email to the parent should suffice, which would certainly be quicker, but again, it does make me wonder whether perhaps I should just not let anyone under 13 to register.

Originally Posted by Seb Quite a long, lengthy process if you ask me. I don't particularly want to be having to manage a site offline (in that sense). I think an email to the parent should suffice, which would certainly be quicker, but again, it does make me wonder whether perhaps I should just not let anyone under 13 to register.

If i was 13 and I really wanted to register i'd just create another hotmail email and pretend that my parents email to get the verification link. But if < 13 will be a key target audience then go for some sort of verification.

Originally Posted by Tom If i was 13 and I really wanted to register i'd just create another hotmail email and pretend that my parents email to get the verification link. But if < 13 will be a key target audience then go for some sort of verification.

Yes, of course that would happen, but that's not what i'm trying to get at. It's better to try and protect yourself (legally) if you expect such things to happen. At least your covered by some sort of terms if the **** hits the fan.

They're not the key audience, but they're a valuable one. Take that age-group on MySpace, i'm sure they contribute a fair amount of visits, revenue, etc.

Here is the law, it spells it out clearly

Direct Notice to Parents Content The notice to parents must contain the same information included on the notice on the Web site. In addition, an operator must notify a parent that it wishes to collect personal information from the child; that the parent's consent is required for the collection, use and disclosure of the information; and how the parent can provide consent. The notice to parents must be written clearly and understandably, and must not contain any unrelated or confusing information. An operator may use any one of a number of methods to notify a parent, including sending an email message to the parent or a notice by postal mail.

You could send a form via e-mail to the parent.

Yes but then read the paragraph under:

Verifiable Parental Consent Before collecting, using or disclosing personal information from a child, an operator must obtain verifiable parental consent from the child's parent. This means an operator must make reasonable efforts (taking into consideration available technology) to ensure that before personal information is collected from a child, a parent of the child receives notice of the operator's information practices and consents to those practices.

They also have to consent, which you have to take a lot more into account.

Then I would take neopets approach, they have been around for years and know what they are doing.

If they choose the under-13 option, make a notice saying "By using this site, your parents agree in letting you use this site."

And then they must confirm that.

That does not comply with the law.