Washington – On Wednesday the Senate Commerce Committee is scheduled to mark up the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0). The Computer & Communications Industry Association shares lawmakers’ goal of protecting young internet users. Unfortunately, COPPA 2.0 would lead to a less safe internet. Legislative proposals should avoid provisions that mandate age verification, which would lead to broad restrictions on online speech, raise serious First Amendment concerns, and create confusing compliance problems for businesses’ efforts to protect young people online.
The following can be attributed to CCIA Vice President for Federal Affairs Brian McMillan:
“While COPPA 2.0 is a well-intentioned bill, each of its policy changes are backed by a confusing compliance mandate which makes it unclear when a company’s duties are triggered. To avoid liability, companies would be forced to utilize age verification technologies, raising serious First Amendment concerns that could silence lawful speech, and create greater privacy risks for all internet users through unnecessary data collections mandates.”
