|
|
April 23, 2003
Eleven groups,including the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Junkbusters, filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), asking that it investigate whether Amazon is letting children 12 years old and younger post reviews of toy products without their parents' consent, which violates the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
A response from the FTC could help establish ground rules for how COPPA affects commercial Web sites primarily intended for adults. The 1998 law applies to data-collection by any Web site or online service directed to children under 13 years old. But Amazon's Web site states that it is intended for use only by adults and says, "If you are under 18, you may use Amazon.com only with the involvement of a parent or guardian."
Amazon spokesman Bill Curry called the complaint groundless because "Amazon.com is not a site directed at children." Curry acknowledged that a bug in Amazon's software caused a Web form, designed to allow children to review products anonymously, to work only intermittently, but he said the company had begun work on fixing it before the complaint was filed with the FTC.
"A second issue is children writing reviews and putting inappropriate information in reviews like a street address," Curry said. "When that happens and gets through the system, we remove it as soon as we're aware of it, and that's a longstanding policy. We have screens and automated systems in place. If something gets through that system, as soon as we learn about it we take it down. We're constantly making the hurdles higher."
The groups' complaint makes no mention of any child having been harmed. It says Amazon.com employees read product reviews before they are posted and should ensure that children do not disclose their personal information in the reviews. The complaint provides an example of a review that was allegedly posted by an 11-year-old and contained the child's full name along with the child's home city and state.
Articlle source and more: ZDNet
|
|
|
 |
|
No Comments Allowed for Anonymous, please register |
|
| |
|
Login |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
· New User? · Click here to create a registered account.
|
|
|
Article Rating |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Average Score: 0
Votes: 0
|
|
|
