[Foundation-l] COPPA

[George Herbert]

On 9/8/06, Jeff V. Merkey <jmerkey at wolfmountaingroup.com> wrote:
>
> Anthony wrote:
>
> >On 9/8/06, geni <geniice at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >>On 9/8/06, Kelly Martin <kelly.lynn.martin at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>>The Wikimedia Foundation is exempt from COPPA due to its status as a
> >>>non-profit organization not engaged in commerce.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>The US goverment would disagree:
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >The FTC seems to imply that Kelly is right.
> >
> >http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/coppafaqs.htm
> >
> >18. Are websites run by nonprofit entities subject to the Rule?
> >
> >The Act and the Rule expressly state that they apply to commercial
> >websites and not to nonprofits that would otherwise be exempt from
> >coverage under Section 5 of the FTC Act. Thus, in general, most
> >non-profits are not subject to the Rule. However, nonprofits that
> >operate for the profit of their for-profit members may be subject to
> >the Rule. See FTC v. California Dental Association 526 U.S. 756
> >(1999), for additional guidance on when nonprofits are subject to FTC
> >jurisdiction. Although true nonprofits are not subject to COPPA, we
> >encourage them to set an example by posting privacy policies and
> >providing the protections set forth in COPPA to children providing
> >personal information at their sites.
> >
> >
> The Foundation is exempt, the community is not (communities have been
> ruled to be entities in several court cases since they
> have rights, like the right to privacy and anonymity). It's a seperate
> entity engaged in commerce of Encyclopedic content
> with an FGDL cost structure of $0. It's pretty simple to just play it
> safe and put in an age disclaimer when an account
> is created. Whether it applies or not sounds like one of those
> experimental law questions that would be better NOT ever put
> to the test and an easy solution to bury the whole argument is just to
> put some sort of age verification question on the account
> creation template. It costs and gives up nothing and removes any
> question about stuff like this.
>
> :-)
>
> Jeff
>
>
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> >http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
> >
> >
> >
>
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>

I think it helps a lot that neither the foundation nor the projects actually
collect personal information about people as part of project activities,
other than the account's email if the user wants to, and their IP address
(for anons or checkuser usage).

I don't know that "what people can post on their user page is up to them"
and allowing them to identify themselves counts in some way as a collection
of information.  That would be a useful question for the FTC.

A disclaimer statement sure couldn't hurt here.  I suspect it's harmless
anyways, but I don't see it being a problem to put up an enhanced
disclaimer.


-- 
-george william herbert
george.herbert at gmail.com