FPF Releases Policy Brief Comparing Federal Child Privacy Bills

Future of Privacy Forum staff compare varied approaches of the four bills

On Wednesday, July 27, 2022, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a markup of two bills this resource highlights: The Kids Online Safety Act and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0). The Committee advanced both bills with significant amendments. Both bills garnered bipartisan support, with the Kids Online Safety Act receiving a unanimous roll call vote and COPPA 2.0 passing through a voice vote with limited opposition. This brief was last updated in September 2022 to reflect the changes to the two bills.

As children’s privacy continues to be a top priority and area of interest among lawmakers, companies, and the public, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) today released a new policy brief that compares the child-centric privacy bills that have been introduced in the 117th Congress. The resource compares four proposed bills against each other (with additional comparisons to current law) on key elements including the age group they seek to protect, enforcement mechanisms, covered entities, notice requirements, verifiable consent, restrictions on the use of personal information (PI), and more.

Download the policy brief here.

“Child privacy continues to receive a lot of attention from policymakers, companies, regulators, and families. In recent months, we’ve seen the FTC, state legislatures, federal policymakers, and even the President of the United States signal an interest in enhancing the consumer privacy rights and online protections afforded to children,” said Lauren Merk, Youth & Education Privacy Policy Counsel at FPF. “The four bills outlined in this resource stand to impact the child privacy landscape in the US either by directly changing the law or influencing future legislation at the federal or state levels. Case in point, the recently released discussion draft of the American Data Privacy and Protection Act includes provisions that mirror sections from some of the child-specific privacy bills.” 

The four children’s privacy bills introduced in the 117th Congress are the Protecting the Information of our Vulnerable Children and Youth Act (“Kids PRIVCY Act”), the Children and Teens Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA 2.0”), the Kids Internet Design and Safety Act (“KIDS Act”) and the Kids Online Safety Act. Two of the bills – COPPA 2.0 and the Kids Online Safety Act – have bipartisan support, while the KIDS Act is the only bill of the four that has been introduced in both chambers of Congress this session.

While all four bills ultimately propose greater online privacy rights for kids, they vary in key respects such as covered age ranges of minor users, enforcement measures, and verifiable consent requirements.  The brief’s two comparative tables highlight these and other elements to showcase the various approaches the bills take. Table 1 compares the two bills that seek to directly amend and update the already enacted Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) —COPPA 2.0 and the Kids PRIVCY Act–to each other as well as the current COPPA language for reference.  And Table 2 examines the key elements of the KIDS Act and the Kids Online Safety Act, which work independently of COPPA.

View Table 1: Federal Child Privacy Bills That Seek to Directly Amend COPPA and Table 2: Federal Child Privacy Bills Independent of COPPA in the policy brief.

“Nearly everyone agrees that protecting kids’ privacy is important, but like many issues, the proverbial devil is in the details and each of these bills goes about it in different ways,” said Miles Light, Youth & Education Privacy Policy Counsel at FPF. “For example, most nonprofit organizations would continue to be exempt from COPPA under COPPA 2.0, but are considered a covered entity under the Kids PRIVACY Act and would have to comply. And while all four bills propose creating privacy protections for older minors – kids ages 13-17 who are not currently covered under COPPA – they vary as to whether they use under 16, under 17, or under 18 as their definition.”

“As child privacy discussions continue, we hope that this comparison can serve as a helpful resource to policymakers, staffers, advocates, and so many others who are closely tracking this issue and the various proposals,” added Light.

To access the policy brief and all of FPF’s child and student privacy resources, visit www.StudentPrivacyCompass.org.