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SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS & TRICKS

Understanding COPPA: A Guide for Beginners

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is a United States federal law, passed in 1998 and effective from April 2000. This law is administered by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

COPPA is designed to protect the online privacy of children under the age of 13 by providing parents with control over what information websites and online services can collect from their children.

Why Do We Need COPPA?

As the internet evolved, it became clear that children were engaging with various websites and services, often providing personal information.

There were concerns about the safety of this information and how it could be used without parental consent. COPPA was thus introduced to ensure that parents are given control over the information collected from their children online.

This law provides a safeguard, ensuring that such data cannot be collected without explicit parental consent.

How Does COPPA Affect Me?

If you’re a parent or guardian of a child under 13 in the U.S., COPPA gives you control over your child’s personal information. It allows you to prevent websites and online services from collecting your child’s personal information without your permission.

If you’re a website owner or operator, or an online service provider whose services are directed to children under 13 or have actual knowledge that you are collecting personal information from children under 13, you need to comply with COPPA.

This includes getting parental consent before collecting, using, or disclosing such information.

Understanding COPPA: A Guide for Beginners 1

How Can I Stay Safe and Compliant?

If you’re a parent, make sure to educate your child about the importance of not giving away personal information online. Also, regularly monitor the websites and online services your child uses and give consent only if you deem it safe.

If you’re a website owner, online service provider, or an app developer, here are the steps you need to take to comply with COPPA:

  1. Post a clear and comprehensive privacy policy on your website describing your practices regarding the collection and use of personal information from children under 13.
  2. Provide direct notice to parents and obtain verifiable parental consent, with limited exceptions, before collecting personal information from children.
  3. Provide a reasonable means for a parent to review the personal information collected from a child and to refuse to permit its further use.
  4. Establish and maintain reasonable procedures to protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of the personal information collected from children.
  5. Retain personal information collected online from a child for only as long as is necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected and delete the information using reasonable measures to protect against its unauthorized access or use.
  6. Do not condition a child’s participation in online activities on the child providing more information than is reasonably necessary to participate in that activity.Notable COPPA Violations and Fines
    Company Year Fine (USD)
    TikTok (previously Musical.ly) 2019 5,700,000
    YouTube & Google 2019 170,000,000

The TikTok fine was for collecting personal information from children without parental consent. YouTube & Google’s fine was for collecting data from children without parental consent and for making targeted ads towards children.

Please note that the FTC regularly reviews and updates its rules and regulations to ensure the safety of children online, so it’s crucial to stay updated with the most recent guidelines from the FTC’s official website.

In Conclusion

The COPPA is crucial in today’s digital age to protect children and give control to parents over their child’s online information. By understanding COPPA, its purpose, and its requirements, you can ensure to comply with the law and provide a safe environment for children online.

COPPA FAQs for Beginners

  1. Q: Who does COPPA apply to?A: COPPA applies to operators of commercial websites and online services, including mobile apps, that are directed to children under 13 and collect, use, or disclose personal information from children.
  2. Q: What types of personal information does COPPA protect?A: COPPA protects personal information like full name, home or email address, telephone number, Social Security number. It also protects other types of information like hobbies, interests, and information collected through cookies or other types of tracking mechanisms when they are tied to individually identifiable information.
  3. Q: How does COPPA define an “operator”?A: Under COPPA, an operator is anyone who operates a website or online service and collects personal information from children, or on whose behalf such information is collected and maintained.
  4. Q: What is ‘verifiable parental consent’ under COPPA?A: Verifiable parental consent is any reasonable effort, taking into consideration available technology, to ensure that a parent of a child receives notice of the operator’s personal information collection, use, and disclosure practices, and authorizes the collection, use, and disclosure, as applicable, of personal information and the subsequent use of that information before that information is collected from that child.
  5. Q: What are the penalties for non-compliance with COPPA?A: The FTC is authorized to bring legal actions and impose penalties up to $43,792 per violation.
Categories
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

What Happened To Alex Jones?

Alex Jones, born in 1974 in Dallas, Texas, has become one of the most recognizable and controversial figures in American media. His journey, from a community college dropout with a passion for broadcasting to the head of the Infowars media empire, is characterized by his proclivity for conspiracy theories and the controversies that have surrounded him.

Alex Jones – Early Years and the Rise of Infowars

Jones began his career on a public access television show in Austin, Texas, in the late 1990s. He soon transitioned to radio, presenting a unique mix of libertarian ideals, anti-establishment rhetoric, and conspiracy theories. These shows laid the groundwork for what would become Infowars, a multimedia conglomerate that included websites, radio broadcasts, and documentary films.

Jones’s delivery style, imbued with urgency and conviction, drew a dedicated following, with listeners tuning in from across the nation. Infowars served as a conduit for fringe theories, frequently involving alleged government cover-ups and globalist conspiracies.

As the internet age advanced, Infowars capitalized on its digital presence to reach a wider audience, extending Jones’s influence.

Alex Jones Conspiracy Theories and Controversies

Jones’s controversial theories often revolve around major national and global events. Notably, he has claimed the U.S. government’s involvement in the 9/11 attacks and that climate change is a hoax. His persistence in promoting these narratives, despite their debunking by established authorities, has been a significant part of his media persona.

However, it is perhaps the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting theory that marked a turning point in Jones’s career.

After the horrific 2012 event where 26 people, including 20 children, were killed, Jones claimed the incident was a hoax perpetrated by the government to promote gun control. These claims caused widespread outrage, particularly from the victims’ families.

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Alex Jones Legal Repercussions and the Fall of Infowars

The Sandy Hook claims led to a series of defamation lawsuits against Jones, initiated by the victims’ families. This legal action marked the beginning of Jones’s fall from his previously unassailable position. Jones’s defense, which hinged on his assertion that he was a “performance artist” playing a character, did not deter the courts.

In the face of the lawsuits, several social media platforms and other online services, including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Apple, banned Jones and Infowars for violating their policies on hate speech and harassment. This crackdown severely restricted Infowars’ reach and significantly impacted the platform’s revenue.

Simultaneously, Jones faced increased scrutiny from the public and media, with his credibility considerably damaged. Many viewed Jones’s actions as crossing a line from free speech into the realm of harmful misinformation and harassment.

Conclusion

Jones’s rise and fall illuminate a dark aspect of media’s power in the digital age. While he found a niche audience that resonated with his anti-establishment and conspiratorial narratives, his fall underscores society’s collective responsibility to uphold truth and the impact of misinformation.

Despite Jones’s diminishing influence, his legacy continues to be a topic of intense discussion concerning free speech, the media’s role in society, and the boundaries of acceptable discourse in the digital world.