Mathematics with Business Applications

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act

The McGraw-Hill Companies is dedicated to protecting the safety and privacy of students and educators accessing McGraw-Hill’s online educational products. All McGraw-Hill products comply with rules and regulations enforced by the federal government as described in the following legislation.

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), passed by Congress in October 1998, requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to issue and enforce rules concerning children’s online privacy. The FTC issued the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule in November 1999; it has been in effect since April 21, 2000. The Rule’s primary goal is to place parents in control over what information is collected from their children online.

The Rule applies to

• Operators of commercial Web sites or online services directed to children under the age of 13 and that collect personal information from children
• Operators of general audience sites that knowingly collect personal information from children under 13
• Operators of general audience sites that have a separate children’s area and that collect personal information from children

The Rule requires these operators to

• Post a privacy policy on the home page of the Web site and link to the privacy policy everywhere personal information is collected
• Provide notice to parents about the site’s information collection practices and, with some exceptions, get verifiable parental consent before collecting personal information from children
• Give parents the choice to consent to the collection and use of a child’s personal information for internal use by the Web site, and give them the chance to choose not to have that personal information disclosed to third parties
• Provide parents with access to their child’s information and the opportunity to delete the information and opt out of the future collection or use of the information
• Not condition a child’s participation in an activity on the disclosure of more personal information than is reasonably necessary for the activity
• Maintain the confidentiality, security, and integrity of the personal information collected from children

The FTC has prepared guidelines to help Web site operators comply with the Rule. The guidelines explain each component of a COPPA-compliant privacy policy, answer questions that Web site operators have asked, and feature a compliance checklist to help Web site operators identify areas where their privacy policies could be improved.

Recommended COPPA Resources

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) - COPPA

Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) - COPPA

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) - COPPA Compliance Toolkit

Kidz Privacy