Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, PRIVACY NEWS: California expands online privacy protections for minors, (Sep 25, 2013)

By Edward L. Puzzo, J.D.

Legislation adding Privacy Rights for California Minors in the Digital World to the existing California Online Privacy Protection Act has been signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, with an effective date of January 1, 2015. The amending measure is Chapter 336, Senate Bill No. 568.

Under existing California law, commercial Internet sites that collect personally identifiable information about individual California residents must make their privacy policies publicly available. Under existing federal law, Internet site operators with websites directed to children, or having actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information from a child, must provide notice of what information is being collected and how it is used, and must give the child’s parents the opportunity to refuse to permit the site operator’s further collection of information from the child.

The new Privacy Rights for California Minors in the Digital World section (Chapter 22.1, added to Division 8 of the California Business and Professions Code) would, as of January 1, 2015, prohibit Internet sites and online and mobile applications from knowingly using, disclosing, or compiling the personal information of a minor for the purpose of marketing or advertising specified types of products or services, or allowing a third party to do so. The prohibition also extends to an advertising service notified by the site operator that the site, service, or application is directed to a minor.

The specified types of products and services banned from marketing to minors includes alcoholic beverages, firearms, fireworks, handgun safety certificates, aerosol paint containers, tobacco products, smoking and drug paraphernalia, electronic cigarettes, tanning devices, dietary products containing ephedrine, and tattoos.

The bill further requires the operator to permit a minor who is a registered user of the site, service, or application to remove, or to request and obtain removal of, content posted on the site by the minor. The operator must provide notice to minors that they may remove their content. An exception to the removal requirement exists for content posted by a third party, content the operator makes anonymous, or content that another law requires the operator or third party to maintain.

News: Privacy ConsumerProtection CaliforniaNews