Senator Durbin at Illinois Tech to Announce Bill to Improve Online Privacy for Kids

United States Senator Richard J. Durbin held a press conference on June 4 at Illinois Tech’s Chicago-Kent College of Law to introduce the Clean Slate for Kids Online Act of 2018. The act improves upon protections provided by both the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA Rule).

According to the Federal Trade Commission, “The primary goal of COPPA is to place parents in control over what information is collected from their young children online. The rule applies to operators of commercial websites and online services (including mobile apps) directed to children under 13 that collect, use, or disclose personal information from children, and operators of general audience websites or online services with actual knowledge that they are collecting, using, or disclosing personal information from children under 13. The rule also applies to websites or online services that have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information directly from users of another website or online service directed to children.”

Among the changes set forth by the Clean Slate for Kids Online Act of 2018 is a provision that makes it unlawful for operators “to fail to delete personal information collected from or about a child if a request for deletion is made pursuant to” a number of COPPA regulations within the new act.  

The press conference at Chicago-Kent was facilitated by Richard Warner, professor of law and faculty director of Chicago-Kent’s Center for Law and Computers.