Seattle Schools Community Forum: FTC Seeks Public Comment on Parental Consent for Children's Online Privacy

Seattle Schools Community Forum: FTC Seeks Public Comment on Parental Consent for Children's Online Privacy:

FTC Seeks Public Comment on Parental Consent for Children's Online Privacy

The Federal Trade Commission is seeking public comment on a proposed verifiable parental consent method that Riyo has submitted for Commission approval under the agency’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule.

Under the rule, online sites and services directed at children must obtain permission from a child’s parents before collecting personal information from that child. The rule lays out a number of acceptable methods for gaining parental consent, but also includes a provision allowing interested parties to submit new verifiable parental consent methods to the Commission for approval.

In a Federal Register notice to be published shortly, the FTC is seeking public comment about the proposed Riyo verifiable parental consent method including whether the proposed method is already covered by existing methods under the rule and whether it meets the rule’s requirement that it be reasonably calculated to ensure that the person providing the consent is actually the child’s parent. The Commission also seeks comment on whether the program poses a risk to consumers’ information and whether that risk is outweighed by the benefits of the program. The comment period will last until Sept. 3, 2015.

Notice from the FTC.

To file comments.

How this might work:

Riyo’s method: “Face Match to Verified Photo Identification” (FMVPI)

Riyo would verify parental consent by using facial recognition technology to compare a parent’s face to a verified photo ID (this is based on a process that is already in use). First the parent takes a picture of their photo ID with their phone’s camera or webcam and it is authenticated. Then the parent is directed to take a picture of his or her own face. The two images are compared. They also use something called “Liveness Detection” which will detect whether the person is living by identifying slight facial movements (prevents a child trying to take a photo of a static image). https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/attachments/press-releases/ftc-seeks-public-comment-riyo-proposal-parental-verification-method-under-coppa-rule/150731riyoapplication.pdf

This "Riyo" policy is of questionable use.  From an e-mail that a concerned parent sent in:

A video describes "Face  Match  to  Verified  Photo  Identification" Seattle Schools Community Forum: FTC Seeks Public Comment on Parental Consent for Children's Online Privacy: