The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requires by law that all businesses with any part of their website (or online service) directed to children under the age of 13 and/or websites (or online services) that collect personally identifiable information from visitors actually known to be under the age of 13, meet the COPPA regulation. BBBOnLine's Supplemental Children's Assessment Questionnaire is required of all companies applying for the BBBOnLine Privacy Seal that fall under this category and was developed to help you comply with COPPA. To apply for the Kid's Privacy Seal a company follows the same process laid out for the standard seal but is then prompted to continue to the additional Children's Questionnaire.
Kid's Privacy Seal Requirements
The BBBOnLine Privacy Kid's seal requirements are based upon the guidelines of the Council of Better Business Bureaus' Children's Advertising Review Unit, the Online Privacy Alliance, and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998.
To meet these requirements, website or online service operators must:
- obtain parental consent before any personally identifiable information can be collected, used or disclosed;
- obtain parental consent before children are allowed to post or communicate directly with others;
- provide warnings and explanations in easy-to-understand language;
- avoid collecting more information than necessary when offering children's games and activities;
- be careful in the way they provide hyperlinks;
- and follow strict rules when sending email.
Seal participants also must provide parents reasonable access to information collected from their children, and the ability to correct or remove that information.
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