Security Issues and Hurdles

       The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 bans children under the age of thirteen from joining websites that release personal information. “Personal information” includes- but is not limited to: first and last name, addresses (physical or electronic), phone number, or a Social Security Number (Department of Health and Human Services, 1998). However, under this law, children are allowed to enter these websites under “verifiable parental consent.” This parental consent is achieved through, “any reasonable effort including a request for authorization for future collection, use, and disclosure described in the notice, to ensure that a parent of a child receives notice of the operator's personal information collection, use, and disclosure practices, and authorizes the collection, use, and disclosure, as applicable, of personal information and the subsequent use of that information before that information is collected from that child” (Department of Health and Human Services, 1998). This ensures that legal guardians are fully aware and understand that their child’s information is online and available to other users of the website.

       Facebook, in the past, has not allowed children to enter their website because they did not have a way to ensure parental consent. The new Facebook functionality will connect the parent and child’s profile, so that parents will be fully aware of what their child is doing online.