The Interactive
Advertising Bureau is asking the Federal Trade Commission to refrain from broadening regulations regarding children's online privacy.
In a letter filed this week, the IAB argues that any new
rules restricting ad networks' ability to collect data for behavioral targeting, or defining IP addresses as personal information, would conflict with the goal of the Children's Online Privacy
Protection Act. That law requires Web site operators to obtain parents' consent before collecting personal information from children under 13.
"If the definition of 'personal information' were
expanded to include anonymous data obtained through behavioral advertising, third parties would be forced to collect individually identifiable information about the user in order to effectuate the
verifiable parental consent notice requirements," states the letter, signed by IAB vice-president for public policy Mike Zaneis. "In other words, the data that ad networks collect would have to be
significantly broadened."
Zaneis goes on to say that it doesn't make sense to consider IP addresses personal information because there's no way to contact someone solely via an IP address in
order to obtain their parents' consent.
The FTC in March sought opinions about whether to
revamp the COPPA regulations, last updated in 2000. The FTC specifically said it was considering whether the definition of "personal information" should be expanded to include "persistent IP
addresses, mobile geolocation information or information collected in connection with online behavioral advertising.
The IAB reiterated its support for self-regulation on privacy, adding that
online behavioral targeting -- or serving ads to computer users based on sites visited -- is anonymous. "The delivery of online advertisements involves no more 'contact' with an individual by a
network advertiser than the advertising department of a city newspaper has with its subscribers as a result of including inserts tailored for locals residing in particular suburban neighborhoods," the
letter states.
The agency also sought input about how COPPA should apply to new platforms, including mobile, interactive TV and interactive gaming.
The IAB warned in its filing that
extending the regulations to such platforms would "present technological challenges."
"Mobile devices are small and do not provide the same amount of physical space provided by computer or laptop
screens for disclosures," the IAB writes. "Mobile devices also present challenges for how to obtain verifiable parental consent from parents."
A coalition of 17 advocacy groups and health
organizations -- including The Center for Digital Democracy, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Academy of Pediatrics, Consumers Union and U.S. PIRG -- filed comments late last month calling on the FTC to extend the COPPA rules to emerging platforms. "When
Congress passed COPPA in 1998, computers provided the only means of accessing websites and online services. Today, adults and children have many other ways to access the Internet and online services,"
the groups said.