New Law Protects Kids Online

In the age of the Internet every parent worries about what their kids are exposed to while online. Washington has now given them one more tool to help protect young Web surfers. Online site operators must begin complying with a federal law today requiring them to get a parent's permission before they collect personal information from children.

Government agents will peruse thousands of Web sites to enforce the law, officials said.

"It's a high priority for the agency," said Loren G. Thompson, a lawyer with the Federal Trade Commission, the regulators overseeing the implementation of the new online child privacy law. "The bottom line is we will be enforcing this law and we will be looking at violators closely."

Thompson said Thursday that dozens of employees in the agency's computer lab will make sweeps of random Web sites to make sure the sites post how parents can grant their permission.

Companies can get the approval several ways: through mailed or faxed paperwork, toll-free phone calls, credit-card numbers, or e-mail.

The agency has the capabilities to check hundreds of Web sites daily.

Each child that e-mails or posts identifiable information like a name and address without a parent's say so could cost a Web site operator $11,000, said Thompson.

Fines and sleuthing won't stop everyone, said privacy advocate Jason Catlett, but federal scrutiny could move larger, more-reputable firms to do the right thing.

"This law draws a line in the sand," said Catlett of Junkbusters Corp., a company that specializes in Internet privacy matters. "Some will stumble over it stupidly. Clearly, it will take time."

The 1998 Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, affecting mostly commercial sites, was enacted after federal officials found that companies were asking children all sorts of questions while they played video games online or researched book reports. Just 1 percent were asking for parental permission. The ban covers information that could identify a particular child.

Last fall, the FTC wrote the set of rules telling companies how to follow the law. When critics complained that anyone especially a bright, tech-savvy child could impersonate a parent over Internet mail, the FTC said companies sharing information with others would have to use digital signature technology designed to prevent e-mail forgeries.

Parents, however, must help industry and government protect their children, said Andrew Weinstein, spokesman for America Online, which gets consent from parents when they create screen names for their children on the service.

He added, "this law is not a replacement for parental involvement."