3 ms·

An interesting aspect of this story that no one's mentioned yet is that collecting this sort of information about a minor is illegal under COPPA [0] when it hap

by pash 15y ago

An interesting aspect of this story that no one's mentioned yet is that collecting this sort of information about a minor is illegal under COPPA [0] when it happens online. It should have been apparent for some time now that customer/user tracking and the accompanying privacy issues apply offline as much as online, but our laws have not caught up. Legislation like COPPA that proscribes behavior/activities solely online will only become more obviously non-sensical as the line between online and offline activities continues to blur. 0. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childrens_Online_Privacy_Protection_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childrens_Online_Privacy_Protec...

chrisbolt 15y ago
COPPA applies to children under 13 years of age, not minors who are under 18 years of age.
- pash 15y ago
  You're right. (Though I will add that there has been recent discussion of raising COPPA's age limit. [0]) But regardless of the age of the girl who is the subject of this article, my general point still stands. 0. https://www.privacyassociation.org/publications/subcommittee_hosts_proposed_coppa_changes_debate https://www.privacyassociation.org/publications/subcommittee...
  - unimpressive 15y ago
    COPPA basically made it illegal for people under 13 to be on the Internet. (Not that they weren't anyway, but it's the precedent and expectation that counts.) Making this situation worse doesn't strike me as a particularly good idea. The "Minors aren't people." meme ranks somewhere at the top of my list of annoying beliefs.
    - pash 15y ago
      No, COPPA doesn't basically make it illegal for children under thirteen to be on the Internet. It doesn't restrict what children under thirteen can do in any way. COPPA restricts what websites can do–they can't collect certain information about users without asking whether they're over thirteen. Sure, you can make a case that we shouldn't burden the web with these sorts of rules. Or that we shouldn't have to differentiate between adults and young children. (You'll lose that argument.) That's not my point. My point is that legislation that differentiates between online and offline activities—and the information we collect about them—will become increasingly nonsensical as online and offline activities become less distinct. When COPPA was passed in 1998, Target wasn't data-mining customers' purchase histories. Only websites were doing that sort of thing (or so the story went). Fast forward to today and offline activities (what you buy at the grocery store, where and when you get on the bus) are now being tracked in the same way that online activities have been for the last decade. Whatever limits you believe should (or shouldn't) be placed on tracking these activities, it's apparent that customer/user privacy is no longer an "online" issue. There will be no "online" issues in the future because the distinction between online and offline is quickly disappearing.
      - unimpressive 15y ago
        That point makes more sense. Yes, I think that in the future privacy laws that try to differentiate between the "Digital world" and "Reality" will find the lines too blurry to draw. Were already there and were not even close to the mountains peak.
      - njharman 15y ago
        > When COPPA was passed in 1998, Target wasn't data-mining customers' purchase histories. O'really? Got a reference for that? I would be stunned if they weren't.

by pash 15y ago

chrisbolt 15y ago

COPPA applies to children under 13 years of age, not minors who are under 18 years of age.

pash 15y ago
You're right. (Though I will add that there has been recent discussion of raising COPPA's age limit. [0]) But regardless of the age of the girl who is the subject of this article, my general point still stands. 0. https://www.privacyassociation.org/publications/subcommittee_hosts_proposed_coppa_changes_debate https://www.privacyassociation.org/publications/subcommittee...
- unimpressive 15y ago
  COPPA basically made it illegal for people under 13 to be on the Internet. (Not that they weren't anyway, but it's the precedent and expectation that counts.) Making this situation worse doesn't strike me as a particularly good idea. The "Minors aren't people." meme ranks somewhere at the top of my list of annoying beliefs.
  - pash 15y ago
    No, COPPA doesn't basically make it illegal for children under thirteen to be on the Internet. It doesn't restrict what children under thirteen can do in any way. COPPA restricts what websites can do–they can't collect certain information about users without asking whether they're over thirteen. Sure, you can make a case that we shouldn't burden the web with these sorts of rules. Or that we shouldn't have to differentiate between adults and young children. (You'll lose that argument.) That's not my point. My point is that legislation that differentiates between online and offline activities—and the information we collect about them—will become increasingly nonsensical as online and offline activities become less distinct. When COPPA was passed in 1998, Target wasn't data-mining customers' purchase histories. Only websites were doing that sort of thing (or so the story went). Fast forward to today and offline activities (what you buy at the grocery store, where and when you get on the bus) are now being tracked in the same way that online activities have been for the last decade. Whatever limits you believe should (or shouldn't) be placed on tracking these activities, it's apparent that customer/user privacy is no longer an "online" issue. There will be no "online" issues in the future because the distinction between online and offline is quickly disappearing.
    - unimpressive 15y ago
      That point makes more sense. Yes, I think that in the future privacy laws that try to differentiate between the "Digital world" and "Reality" will find the lines too blurry to draw. Were already there and were not even close to the mountains peak.
    - njharman 15y ago
      > When COPPA was passed in 1998, Target wasn't data-mining customers' purchase histories. O'really? Got a reference for that? I would be stunned if they weren't.