Image by Swansea Photographer

Just a quick note for those of you who own websites that may collect personal information such as names, addresses, phone numbers, etc.

If your website is directed at and collects information from children under 13, you must comply with Federal Trade Commission and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

It basically says that you need to get guardian consent before collecting information (name, address, phone, etc.) and give some options.

From their website -

The Rule requires operators (website owners) to:

• Post a privacy policy on the homepage of the Web site and link to the privacy policy on every page where personal information is collected.
• Provide notice about the site’s information collection practices to parents and obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting personal information from children.
• Give parents a choice as to whether their child’s personal information will be disclosed to third parties.
• Provide parents access to their child’s personal information and the opportunity to delete the child’s personal information and opt-out of future collection or use of the information.
• Not condition a child’s participation in a game, contest or other activity on the child’s disclosing more personal information than is reasonably necessary to participate in that activity.
• Maintain the confidentiality, security and integrity of personal information collected from children.

Even if you’re not an American citizen, it’s still good business practice to do follow this line of reasoning. Parents will come to trust your site more.

And trust means return customers.