Technology Acts Paper My technology acts paper will be on the Children’s Internet Protection Act, 2000 and on the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), 1998. Congress has done its part to protect our children with strict laws by enacting some changes in the way our children view the internet and how our children With the many changes in technology congress has to come up with new ethical issues that they have to create certain acts to protect our children. Since children are around computer quite a bit the government came up with the Children Internet Protection Act, 2001. Computers are becoming part of our lives not only for grownups but for our children and adolescents too. Some children might not have a computer at home but they use one in school. Where there is a computer there is internet. The internet connects computers, cell phones, mainframes and any internet ready enabled device. Anyone, as long as they have an internet enabled device can use the internet. The internet is a massive public spiderweb of computer connections (Gil, 2012). Since anyone regardless of age can use the internet without any form of knowing who or what age they are they can browse any webpage they want. They can see explicit online content and even some online nudity. There is much internet pornography online and is open to anyone whom clicks on their links. It is no wonder that congress came up with the Internet Protection Act and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, they are in place to protect children. The Children’s Internet Protection Act, which was formed by Congress in 2000, was signed into law by our former President Bill Clinton. This law is a federal law made to protect children. Children cannot access the internet to see offensive content while they are on the internet in school or library computers. Schools and libraries are to place content filters on their computers or systems to block and or keep minors from seeing content that is defined as obscene. This would keep minors from getting to inappropriate sites. The Children’s Internet Protection Act’s purpose is to protect them from bad contents that could result from surfing the internet, it’s for their safety The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is also to safeguard children from the internet. This law is more for commercial web sites who operate any web page that collects data from children under 13. It is for operators of general audience sites with actual knowledge that they are collecting information from children under 13. It was signed into law on October 21st, 1998 and modified on April 21st, 2000. This law prohibits unfair acts that have to do with the collection, use, or disclosure of personally identifiable information about children on the internet.

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and the FTC’s rule require those institutions to provide the parents with a notice of their information practices. They have to obtain prior verifiable parental consent so they can collect or use any personal information about the children. If the parent request to see what information the company has about their children they have to upon request provide it for them ("Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, 2000," 2004). All of these and more are done for the protection of the minor child or children. These laws were passed to limit access to minors of that which could be harmful on the internet. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requires all commercial web sites which have harmful material for minors to make or add restrictions on their web sites. Anything that shows sexual acts and nudity are defined as harmful material. With all of these laws the Federal Trade Commission still finds app stores and app developers that fail to give out information to parents about the collection and use of children’s information. The increase of the use of cell phones has caused for children to browse the internet without the parents knowing what pages they have been in. As the technology advances each year the Federal Trade Commission has to propose more new rules for Children’s Privacy Protection Online Privacy (epic org, 2011). The outgrowing of mobile devices has had to make the Federal Trade Commission to recommend that apps stores provide simple disclosures about their information collection and the use practices. It also asks that app stores assume greater roles in providing information about the apps that they sell.

The internet is a very resourceful place where people, children, and adolescence can go and find much information for school, work or just for fun. At the same time it can be a place where children’s minds are put to work and they find out things which they are still too young to know. That is why these types of laws are implemented to protect their minds. Imagine if these filters are removed? What will become of our young children? Someone has to look out for them while we are at work. If these filters are removed the acts are erased and then the laws are no longer established and our children are prone to see harmful content. The children’s minds will be at risk and they will grow up knowing and seeing things they are not suppose to. I am glad the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the Children’s Internet Protection Act, 2000 are there to protect our children from the new way of life and all of these new advance modern technology. Because our children are our first priority at home, school, and or any public place we should move forward and encourage Congress to keep passing new laws against anyone who tries to harm the minds of our children. As positive as the internet is and as resourceful it still has its negative side and should be kept safe from our children. If we are not there to see what sites they go in and what they see then the acts or laws will protect them. I give thanks to both of these laws because they are working for the better of our children.