Information Technology Acts Paper

Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA)

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)

Reche Quiapos

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER APPLICATION AND SYSTEMS/BIS220

October 28, 2012

Nabih Zourob

Information Technology Acts Paper

Being a Parent that comes from a family-oriented environment, the topic of this paper opens up doors for me on how my children are protected when using the internet. At this modern era, at my children’s age, they were exposed to the Internet growing up. The best way for me to see how they are protected from the World Wide Web is knowing that I can keep them safe from all the acts that our law has passed. Since, I cannot be with them every minute of the day while they are on the computer, I have signed up into this website called “Google Safe Eyes” where it keeps you posted when your children are trying to view inappropriate websites. It alerts to your phone and email, the time and website that they’re trying to access online.
A growing Internet sectors plays a big part on children. The Interactive nature of the Internet enables marketers to gather personal information from children through registration information on chatrooms, and other discussion boards available for children. These businesses of marketers will then sold to a third party after they gather all personal information for commercial purposes. This action opened-up doors for abusers and pedophiles that are dangerous for children. Parents also have to be aware of their children’s interaction while they are online. While some Parents tried to monitor their children’s internet use, many of us parents are not computer literate, unaware of the risk being in the chatroom, lack of computer skills.
The world of internet is a dangerous place for children without laws, it proves how easy for abusers and pedophiles to obtain information of your kids. In the 1995 news, EPIC sent a letter to Christine Varney, the commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission to investigate a marketing company that reportedly sells children’s personal information (EPIC, 1995). After this investigation, due to the growing data gathered on children’s personal information and public interest, on March 1998, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) presented to the Congress a report addressing the lack of regulation and protection of children’s information online.
For Instance, the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), passed by Congress on June 17, 1999 to protect children from being exposed to sexually explicit mater on the Internet. CIPA requires public schools and libraries to install software filters that prevents library users from gaining Internet access to obscene, pornographic, or visually harmful material to children’s eyes (House Research, 2004). This act gives librarians no procedures or standards for deciding whether or not to disable filters or unblock sites when requested, or to require adult library users making such requests to identify themselves as an adult. It is the third law since 1996 that Congress passed to address parents’ concerns about children’s access to harmful Internet materials. Basically, the technology method of protection for this act would be the software that blocks or filters Internet access to all of the main reason stated above that serves as a reasonable grounds to pass this law.
While the CIPA serves a great tremendous safety on children’s lives when they are on the internet in school or libraries, parents can feel safe and at peach knowing these establishments have safety protection for their kids. But as a parent, we do not only stop from protecting our children from there, protection must begin at home, and that’s where COPPA starts when this act gave parents the control over the kind of information websites we can collect from our children. This act turned into law on April 21, 2000. If you are running a website for kids or for any general audience that asked for information from kids under 13, you are required to comply with the COPPA’s rules and requirements. The Rules applies to the operators of the websites or the online services. The following information Operators need to be covered must:
(COPPA FAQs, 2008). 1. Post a clear privacy policy on their website describing their information practices for children’s personal information; 2. To Provide a direct notice to parents and acquire a parental consent, with limited exceptions, before collecting personal information from children; 3. Give parent’s the options to provide the information without worrying about the thirt parties distribution. 4. Parents must have access to their child’s personal information for review and edit information should it be deemed necessary. 5. Limit personal information on children’s to prevent further use for the third parties. 6. Maintained to be confidential of any information collected from children for their safety and security.
According to Inc.com, COPPA is very difficult to enforce. As we all know, some kids are techy and knows their way around, which may be able to find other ways to forge or falsify their parent’s consent. This law only applies to the companies doing business in the U.S. which makes this law harder to enforce because the Internet is a global platform all over the world. The Internet is part of our lives as well as our children’s. We can see how technology has gone far beyond what you can imagined. As a parent, I consider the Internet to be my primary source of educational/developmental tool. It is easy to use, fun for games, emails/chats/instant messaging and recently Facebook to communicate with friends and families. My biggest challenge as my kid’s are growing, was keeping the internet safe for them to use. I’m glad that the United States has passed laws to prevent kids from doing, interacting “harmful things” in the Internet. As I mentioned above, the protection must begins at home, we mold our children from the ethics of life, identifying right from wrong, having that said, you as a parent will be confident that they will go out into the world with the good values you bestow upon them.

References:
House Research, August 2004 http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hrd/pubs/ss/sscipa.pdf Bureau of Consumer Protection, December 2006 http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus45-how-comply-childrens-online-privacy-protection-rule FTC, October 7, 2008 http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/coppafaqs.shtm Barner, Evansburg, Watson, Welch, 2003
http://www.inc.com/encyclopedia/childrens-online-privacy-protection-act-coppa.html