Michael H. Koby

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) (P.L. 105-277, 112 Stat. 2681) protects the online privacy of children under thirteen by requiring commercial Web sites and online services to request parental consent for the collection, use, and disclosure of a child's personal information.

This legislation grew out of the fact that by 1998 roughly ten million American children had access to the Internet, and at the same time, studies indicated that children were unable to understand the potential effects of revealing their personal information online, and parents failed to monitor their children's use of the Internet. The targeting of children by marketers resulted in the release of large amounts of private information into the market and triggered the...