W3 Innovations was hit with an FTC lawsuit on Friday, which stated allegations against the company:
"In additional to the collection and maintenance of over 30,000 emails, containg email addresses, Defendants have collected, maintained, and/or disclosed personal information from over 300 Emily's Girl World app users and approximately 290 Emily's Dress Up app users who have registered to submit comments."
The company quickly settled without a battle on Monday, accepting the $50,000 fine, agreeing to delete all collected personal data and promising to not make any further violations.
The FTC claimed that W3 Innovations' apps were a violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the FTC's COPPA Rule, which requires that a parent or guardian must give consent before a website operator can collect personal information from a child under 13 years of age. The FTC says that the company's mobile apps fell under this rule, because the mobile apps send and receive data via the Internet.
The FTC has collected fines from a number of companies in violation of the COPPA rule, including Xanga ($1 million), Sony ($1 million) and
The FTC launched a site called "Living Life Online" to educate children about online safety. While it offers an admittedly horrible user experience, the idea is a step in the right direction.
Enacted in 1998, COPPA has made a big impact on the development of online websites and games targeted at children. As the act makes it illegal for children under 13 years old to take part in social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, developers targeting children must focus on being COPPA-compliant.
As a result, a number of safe social networks for children have surfaced since the act was made effective in 2000. And just this year, a new social network called Everloop was launched in 56,000 schools, in hopes of becoming the Facebook alternative for children between the ages of 8 and 13.
Image courtesy of Flickr, tinkerbrad