California Teens Get “Eraser Button” Law

Amidst controversy and skepticism, California Governor, Jerry Brown, recently signed into law the first bill of its kind, known commonly as the “Eraser Button” law. S.B. 568 enacts two new statutes under the title "Privacy Rights for California Minors in the Digital World" that will take effect on January 1, 2015. The law makes California the first state to require websites, online service or application, or mobile application with which they are registered, to allow people younger than 18 to remove their own postings on that site, and to clearly inform minors how to do so. The first statute prohibits youth-oriented websites aimed at users under the age of 18 or those that know they have users who are minors from advertising certain products that are illegal to minors, such as guns, alcohol and tobacco. Operators who fall within the scope of the new law will be additionally prevented from providing the personal information of minors to third parties for the purpose of marketing or advertising prohibited items. The operators will be further required to provide notice to any third-party advertising services, which will face the same restrictions as to what they can advertise through that particular operator.