IP: U.S. COPPA privacy law hurts children, censors web sites

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

>Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 12:00:49 -0400
>To: politech@vorlon.mit.edu
>From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
>
>
>********
>Also see:
>   Parents Remain Unclear on Online Privacy Law
>   http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/05/cyber/articles/12coppa.html
>
>If a relatively affluent company -- a $20 million Thomas movie is opening 
>in U.S. theaters in July -- says it doesn't have the manpower or money to 
>comply with COPPA, how can startups and smaller firms hope to do so? --Declan
>********
>
>http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,36325,00.html
>
>    COPPA Lets Steam out of Thomas
>    by Declan McCullagh (declan@wired.com)
>
>    3:00 a.m. May. 13, 2000 PDT
>    A wildly popular children's television show has disappointed millions
>    of young fans by halting their regular email bulletins.
>
>    A U.S. law makes it illegal for the Thomas the Tank Engine show to
>    continue sending email, the "Fat Controller" character sadly informed
>    his readers recently.
>
>    "I am sorry to say, dear friends, that I have had to suspend all
>    mailing list operations as a result of a new on-line privacy act,"
>    Thomas's website says.
>
>    Call it the law of unintended consequences: The Children's Online
>    Privacy Protection Act, which Congress said would help children, in
>    some cases has had precisely the opposite effect. The law took effect
>    last month.
>
>    In response to the new law, online matchmaker Ecrush.com decided to
>    say goodbye to some 2,000 under-12 subscribers, and NBCi angered its
>    pre-teen clientele in February when it canceled their email accounts
>    because of COPPA.
>
>    The law requires firms to obtain parental consent for all the kids who
>    use their site, which U.K. firm Britt Allcroft, owner of the Thomas
>    show, said would cost too much.
>
>    "We haven't got the manpower or the finances," said Anthony Evans,
>    head of marketing for Britt Allcroft.
>
>    Evans said 40 percent of the site's 500,000 monthly visitors are from
>    the U.S., where the show appears on the Fox Family channel.
>
>    Judging from the disappointed emails he's received from kids and
>    parents, he said, most of them are pretty upset.
>
>    "He's important to children worldwide. There's nothing really harsh
>    about his world," Evans said of the show's flagship character.
>
>    "Congress rushed into this without considering the impact of indulging
>    in privacy technophobia on consumers and small businesses," says
>    Solveig Singleton, a lawyer specializing in privacy issues at the
>    free-market Cato Institute. "This will happen more and more as the
>    Federal Trade Commission gets on the privacy bandwagon and decides to
>    treat legitimate businesses as stalkers."
>
>    A major motion picture, called Thomas and the Magic Railroad and based
>    on the TV show, will be out in U.S. theaters on July 26. Starring Alec
>    Baldwin and Peter Fonda, the film mixes live action and model
>    animation and features the story of a girl who takes the wrong train
>    and travels to a toy world where she meets Thomas the steam engine.
>
>    Supporters of COPPA say most children's websites should be able to
>    comply with the law.
>
>    [...]
>
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