If your child is not "online" already, he or she may soon be joining the millions of children who are using the Internet. Whether using the Internet at home or school, the online world offers children experiences that can be educational and rewarding. But, when it comes to their personal information online, who is in charge?
The Internet poses new challenges for parents and caregivers because, unlike television, radio and videos, the Internet is interactive. Your child can interact with anyone else online from home, school or library. The Internet allows any user, anywhere, to post information, including materials that are inaccurate, misleading and inappropriate for children. It also enables anyone to collect personal information from your child.
In an effort to put parents in the driver's seat, the Council of Better Business Bureaus' Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) offers these guidelines for parents to make sure that kids' privacy is protected while they are online:
- Make sure the web site has a privacy policy directed to children. The link to this privacy statement should be clear and prominent, and be available both on the homepage and wherever personal information is collected from kids. It must disclose what kinds of information is collected, how it will be used, and whether it will be shared with third parties.
- Giving consent is your choice. In most cases, your consent is required before a web site is permitted to collect personal information from your child. Even if you give consent, you can still refuse to allow the information to be shared with third parties. If the site is collecting an email address only, to respond to a one-time request from the child, your consent is not required as long as the email address is not retained by the web site.
- You can change your mind. At any time, you can ask the web site to stop collecting personal information from your child, and to delete any that it has already collected.
- Check your child's information. You are entitled to ask to see the information the web site has collected about your child. For your child's protection, the web site will ask for verification that you are actually the parent.
Parents should also review privacy protection rules with their children. Teach your children that they should never give out personal information (including their name, home address, telephone number, age, race, school name or location, or friends' names) or use a credit card online without your permission. Look into software or online services that filter out offensive materials and sites. Many Internet Service Providers and commercial online services offer site blocking, restrictions on incoming e-mail, and children's accounts that access specific services.
CARU works actively with advertisers to ensure that they too are aware of the rules and that they follow them. For more information about privacy rules, visit CARU's web site at www.caru.org, and the Federal Trade Commission's web site at www.ftc.gov.
