FC: U.S. COPPA privacy law hurts children, censors web sites

[Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>]

********
Also see:
   Parents Remain Unclear on Online Privacy Law
   http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/05/cyber/articles/12coppa.html

If a relatively affluent company -- a $20 million Thomas movie is opening 
in U.S. theaters in July -- says it doesn't have the manpower or money to 
comply with COPPA, how can startups and smaller firms hope to do so? --Declan
********

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,36325,00.html

    COPPA Lets Steam out of Thomas
    by Declan McCullagh (declan@wired.com)

    3:00 a.m. May. 13, 2000 PDT
    A wildly popular children's television show has disappointed millions
    of young fans by halting their regular email bulletins.

    A U.S. law makes it illegal for the Thomas the Tank Engine show to
    continue sending email, the "Fat Controller" character sadly informed
    his readers recently.

    "I am sorry to say, dear friends, that I have had to suspend all
    mailing list operations as a result of a new on-line privacy act,"
    Thomas's website says.

    Call it the law of unintended consequences: The Children's Online
    Privacy Protection Act, which Congress said would help children, in
    some cases has had precisely the opposite effect. The law took effect
    last month.

    In response to the new law, online matchmaker Ecrush.com decided to
    say goodbye to some 2,000 under-12 subscribers, and NBCi angered its
    pre-teen clientele in February when it canceled their email accounts
    because of COPPA.

    The law requires firms to obtain parental consent for all the kids who
    use their site, which U.K. firm Britt Allcroft, owner of the Thomas
    show, said would cost too much.

    "We haven't got the manpower or the finances," said Anthony Evans,
    head of marketing for Britt Allcroft.

    Evans said 40 percent of the site's 500,000 monthly visitors are from
    the U.S., where the show appears on the Fox Family channel.

    Judging from the disappointed emails he's received from kids and
    parents, he said, most of them are pretty upset.

    "He's important to children worldwide. There's nothing really harsh
    about his world," Evans said of the show's flagship character.

    "Congress rushed into this without considering the impact of indulging
    in privacy technophobia on consumers and small businesses," says
    Solveig Singleton, a lawyer specializing in privacy issues at the
    free-market Cato Institute. "This will happen more and more as the
    Federal Trade Commission gets on the privacy bandwagon and decides to
    treat legitimate businesses as stalkers."

    A major motion picture, called Thomas and the Magic Railroad and based
    on the TV show, will be out in U.S. theaters on July 26. Starring Alec
    Baldwin and Peter Fonda, the film mixes live action and model
    animation and features the story of a girl who takes the wrong train
    and travels to a toy world where she meets Thomas the steam engine.

    Supporters of COPPA say most children's websites should be able to
    comply with the law.

    [...]

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