In an analysis of 40 websites popular among children, researchers found the majority of them aggressively tracked user activity, which may violate federal privacy law.
The law in question is the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, which requires Website operators and mobile app developers targeting children under 13 years of age to obtain explicit parental consent before they can collect personal information from minors. COPPA was amended last year to widen the definition of tracking and personal information to include cookies and other persistent tracking technologies. TRUSTe, a company that specializes in data privacy management, analyzed the top 10 websites ranked by Alexa.com from each of the following categories:
pre-school,
education,
kids' entertainment, and
gaming and found high levels of tracking.
