_________________________________________________________________ ALAWON Volume 7, Number 110 ISSN 1069-7799 September 24, 1998 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (143 lines) SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING ON CHILDREN'S ONLINE PRIVACY _________________________________________________________________ SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING ON CHILDREN'S ONLINE PRIVACY On September 23 the Senate Communications Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee held a hearing on S. 2326, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, sponsored by Sens. Richard Bryan (D-NV) and John McCain (R-AZ). ALA submitted a statement for the hearing record. Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT), chair of the Subcommittee, presided and Sen. Bryan, member of the Subcommittee, was also in attendance. Sen. Burns stated that privacy online was an increasing concern and "particularly troublesome to all of us...where children are concerned." He cited a recent Federal Trade Commission case involving GeoCities' (http://www.geocities.com/) failure to disclose how it was monitoring its Web site users and how it was using collected information. Burns congratulated FTC Commissioner Pitofsky and the FTC for their role in "helping to protect the privacy of citizens in an online world." Burns said that although he had minor technical concerns, he commended the bill's sponsors and would move the bill to markup. Sen. Bryan expressed concern that some online providers use cartoon characters to appeal to children and get them to provide information. He said the ease of obtaining information, which has market value, has been vastly enhanced by technology. He also was concerned about personal safety and that many pedophiles have used the Internet as a means to prey on children. Robert Pitofsky, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, spoke in favor of the bill and said that it will empower parents but there will still be a need to exercise discretion. Pitofsky said that because there was evidence of deception in the GeoCities case, the FTC could act, but this bill would allow the FTC to act without evidence of deception. He added that Web sites should not "collect information from children without parental consent." For children 12 and under he feels strongly that "commercial Web sites should not be dealing with 11 year olds." The FTC can engage in rule making for older teens. As for adults, he hoped that industry self-regulation would take care of the situation. ALA submitted a statement for the hearing record outlining the library profession's strong commitment to the protection of privacy as well as free inquiry and free expression. The statement cited ALA's specific policy on confidentiality of personally identifiable uses of library materials and noted that intellectual freedom requires the confidentiality of information about one's reading, viewing and "surfing" habits. The ALA statement also raised a series of specific questions relating to a cluster of four implementation issues raised by the bill: (1) Is the harm addressed by the bill narrowly tailored to protect children's privacy? If a site merely collects a child's e-mail address in order to respond to a request for information, would parental notice, consent and disclosure be required? (2) Are the appropriate Web sites targeted by this legislation? If commercial Web sites are defined by whether the organization offers anything for sale, many nonprofits that may market posters or coffee mugs online would also have to notify parents before responding to a minor's request for information. (3) Should teenagers over 12 be treated as children for purposes of privacy legislation? If a teen can sign up for a contest or a newsletter in a bookstore without parental supervision, why impose such requirements to do the same at an online bookstore? (4) How will verifiable "parental consent" or "notice" work in the on line environment? Is it practical? How would it work in situations where children only have access to computers in the public library, at school, in community centers, or if parents are not computer literate or do not read or speak English? ALA concluded that S. 2326 wields too broad a brush, would have a chilling effect on children's access to information, and would diminish rather than protect their personal privacy. ALA urged a carefully considered exploration of all the issues rather than rushing to enact a bill in the closing weeks of this Congress. The second panel for the S. 2326 hearing was composed of Jill Lesser, America Online; Deirdre Mulligan, the Center for Democracy and Technology; Kathryn Montgomery, Center for Media Education; and Arthur Sackler, Time-Warner. Lesser described what the Online Privacy Alliance had done to protect the privacy of children under age 13. She underscored problems with the current bill and stated that: (1) any legislation should be limited to children under 13; (2) Web sites providing parental permission for access could be a security threat; (3) legislation should be limited to Web sites specifically for children; and (4) safe harbors could prove ineffective if state laws intervened. Mulligan said public anxiety was high and cited a recent survey in which two-thirds of non-Internet users said they would go online if privacy was protected. She added that the FTC needed more power to go after the "bad actors." Mulligan outlined concerns about the differences between 13-16 year olds and younger children and preserving online interactivity to allow teens to ask questions about issues like health. Mulligan also cited the difficulty of obtaining parental consent in libraries. Montgomery said that her organization, the Center for Media Education, was the first to call the FTC's attention to the manipulation of children on the Internet. She was concerned that industry self-regulation would not be adequate protection, but felt the details about FTC rule making were handled well in the bill. Sackler, testifying on behalf of the Direct Marketing Association, said that Time-Warner was the leading provider of online content. Both the Association and Time-Warner shared concerns about privacy on the Internet. He said his organization was doing something about it by making privacy a matter of consumer choice. _________________________________________________________________ ALAWON is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. To subscribe, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc @ala.org. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/ subscribe.html or send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/ washoff/alawon. Visit our Web site at http://www.alawash.org. ALA Washington Office 202.628.8410 (V) 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, #403 202.628.8419 (F) Washington, DC 20004-1701 800.941.8478 (V) Lynne E. Bradley, Editor Deirdre Herman, Managing Editor Contributors: Mary Rae Costabile All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. _________________________________________________________________