NEGATIVE — CONSUMER/INTERNET — SIGNIFICANCE� 406

PRIVACY FOR CHILDREN IS PROTECTED

NEW REGULATIONS PROTECT CHILDREN'S PRIVACY ON THE WEB

JERI CLAUSING, The New York Times, October 21, 1999, SECTION: Section G; Page 11; TITLE: New Privacy Rules for Children's Web Sites // acs-EE2001

The Federal Trade Commission today unveiled tough new privacy rules for Web sites for children, detailing how privacy policies should be posted and how companies must comply with a new law that will prohibit them from collecting personal information without parental permission.

The rules, which were approved 4 to 0, were written to carry out the Children's On-Line Privacy Protection Act passed by Congress last year. They were praised by privacy advocates, who said the commission rejected intense lobbying by some companies to keep the rules loose.

The rules, which will take effect in April, are expected to have a dramatic effect on hundreds of popular Internet sites aimed at children. The sites typically offer free on-line games and other entertainment in exchange for personal information valuable to marketers.

The law requires that all Web sites that gather information from children under 13 first gain "verifiable parental consent." But Congress left it up to the trade commission to define how that test could be met.

REGULATIONS PROTECTING CHILD PRIVACY ON THE WEB ARE EFFECTIVE

JERI CLAUSING, The New York Times, October 21, 1999, SECTION: Section G; Page 11; TITLE: New Privacy Rules for Children's Web Sites // acs-EE2001

"The bottom line is that it looks remarkably good," said Jason Catlett, president of Junkbusters Corp., a privacy advocacy group based in New Jersey. "They made a number of changes to the draft rules, and despite intense lobbing of industry for loopholes, they seem not to have created any substantial ones."

Kathryn Montgomery, executive director of the Center for Media Education, a Washington research and advocacy group, said the commission "has done a very thorough and conscientious job of developing rules that will be both flexible and effective."

Industry representatives also said they found something positive in the new rules. "The F.T.C. did a good, balanced job," Ron Plesser, a lawyer who worked with the Direct Marketing Association and other groups, told the Associated Press. "Everything's a compromise -- it's not all great for industry, but it resolves some major concerns."