Photo of Sheila MillarPhoto of Tracy Marshall

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved modifications to the video game industry’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) program. Earlier this year, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) proposed several substantive changes intended to take account of recent FTC COPPA rules and guidance.

To receive FTC approval, COPPA safe harbor programs must “implement substantially similar requirements that provide the same or greater protections for children as those contained in the Rule; (2) an effective mandatory mechanism for the independent assessment of the safe harbor program participants’ compliance with the guidelines; and (3) disciplinary actions for noncompliance by safe harbor participants.”

Five NGOs and individuals submitted comments during a public comment period on a number of ESRB’s proposed changes, including amending the definition of “personal information and data,” ensuring that links to privacy statements be prominent and clearly labeled, and clarifying the program’s data minimization requirements. ESRB also revised the program to incorporate FTC enforcement guidance on how voice data was handled. The FTC approval letter noted that ESRB made revisions to address certain objections raised by three of the NGOs.

The Commission vote to approve the changes to ESRB’s COPPA safe harbor program was unanimous.