FTC Unanimously Approves COPPA Compliance Date Set for July 1, 2013

In response to a request by industry organizations and businesses to reconsider the July deadline to implement changes to the Children’s Online Protection Rule, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) recently decided by unanimous vote to retain the July 1, 2013 date for the COPPA Rule amendments. The request to delay the implementation of proposed changes to COPPA was made by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (“IAB”), the Digital Marketing Association (“DMA”), the National Association of Broadcasters, the Motion Picture Association of America, the Chamber of Commerce and more than a dozen others that claimed the July 1 date would "significantly impact the long-standing business model that these companies have relied upon in planning the capabilities of their products and services since COPPA's inception," and they needed more time to "absorb the impact" of the changes and implement them. Nearly 20 privacy and children’s advocacy groups, including the Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Action and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, warned, in a separate letter to FTC Chairwoman, Edith Ramirez, that any delay was unwarranted, would harm children and "undermine the goals of both Congress and the FTC." In voting to retain the date, the FTC noted that it had given covered entities at least 6 months to prepare for the Rule and that industry had "not raised any concrete facts to demonstrate that a delay is necessary." It also demonstrates the Commission’s intention to stress “the importance of ensuring that the enhanced privacy protections of the revised rule are available to children without delay, especially in the face of rapid evolution in the ways children interact with the Internet.” With the FTC, that means the potential for enforcement. If an operator is found to be in non-compliance with COPPA they run the risk of significant fines (up to $11,000 per/violation) levied by the FTC.