Tag: COPPA

Bookmarked Kids’ YouTube as we know it is over. Good. (Vox)

On January 1, YouTube videos for kids will look much different. But will it be better?

With the policy changes to YouTube requiring creators to classify if content is for children, Rebecca Jennings dives into the world of YouTube for children.

Throughout its history, YouTube has stubbornly maintained that it’s a site aimed at users 13 and over, freeing the platform from obtaining parental consent to track user data. Yet the FTC’s investigation found that Google had been touting YouTube’s popularity with children to toy brands like Mattel and Hasbro in order to sell ads, including the assertion that YouTube is the No. 1 website regularly visited by kids.

The FTC’s fine is arguably a pittance of what Google owes. Though it may be a record-breaking fine for the organization, as Recode’s Peter Kafka explains, $170 million is basically “a rounding error” in YouTube’s profit, which could reach around $20 billion this year. Two of the FTC’s five commissioners voted against the settlement, with one arguing the fine should have been in the billions.

One of the biggest concerns is that much of this content is driven by algorithms, rather than the recommendations of educational specialists.

Maybe, though, the problem isn’t that the YouTube algorithm serves up stupid or bad videos to kids, but that an algorithm is in charge of what kids are watching at all. Toddlers are always going to click on the video with the brightest, most bonkers thumbnail with words they might recognize. Moving kids’ content to separate streaming apps — made specifically for children, with fewer commercials, more gatekeepers in charge of quality control, and fair, clear payment structures — seems like a change for good.

Alexis Madrigal (‘Raised by YouTube‘) and James Bridle (‘The nightmare videos of children’s YouTube — and what’s wrong with the internet today‘) also unpack some of the issues associated with YouTube.

Replied to FERPA, COPPA and the myths we tell each other (Jim Siegl)

This Sunday is Data Privacy Day., so I thought I would list some of the more “interesting” interpretations I have heard (and read) about COPPA, FERPA and how schools approve educational services. I eventually plan to write up an annotated version of this list.

Jim, this is an interesting list.

The one I hear all the time is 11:

It is an valid COPPA workaround for a vendor, in their terms, to tell a teacher that to comply with COPPA, for them to sign up the student.

Such as from Canva.

The question that I always have from abroad is the impact of COPPA etc. I was once told that we are not in America so it does not matter, yet many of the applications originate from America. That is something that has always stumped me.

Look forward to reading your annotations.

Aaron.

Bookmarked Common Sense Media Misses the Mark on COPPA (Jim Siegl)

Schools should think of COPPA as a subset of their overall privacy responsibilities. I would argue that schools should prioritize overall privacy for students of all ages, and compliance with FERPA. There are few cases where paying attention to this would not also aid in the schools’ role in vendors’ COPPA compliance.