Social Network Xanga Collecting Children’s Personal Information Without Parents’ Consent
| Social Network Xanga Collecting Children’s Personal Information Without Parents’ Consent | |
|---|---|
| Short Title | Social Network Xanga Collecting Children’s Personal Information without Parents’ Consent |
| Location | United States |
| Date | 2006 |
| Solove Harm | Surveillance, Disclosure, Increased Accessibility |
| Information | Identifying, Computer Device, Social Network |
| Threat Actors | Xanga.com Inc. |
| Individuals | |
| Affected | Children using Xanga |
| High Risk Groups | Children |
| Tangible Harms | |
Social networking Website Xanga.com collected, used, and disclosed personal information from children under the age of 13 without first notifying parents and obtaining their consent.
Description
In September 2006 social network Xanga.com was found to knowingly collect and disclose personal information from children. The website allowed visitors to create accounts even if they provided a birth date indicating they were children. Besides, the company failed to notify the children’s parents before data collection or provide the parents with access to and control over their children’s information.
Since the company didn’t notify parents and/or collected consents, this can be interpreted as Surveillance, because children are more susceptible to manipulation and may lack the maturity to evaluate risks for themselves and deal with privacy violations.
Personal profiles on the website included a big variety of personal information: apart from names and other identifying information, it also included content, uploaded by users, such as texts, audio, video, files, blogs, online journals, etc.
The information was made available for other users to read and respond to, which without proper consent can be interpreted as Disclosure of personal information. Another privacy violation identified in this case is Increased Accessibility since information on the Xanga site was made available to the general public through the use of global search engines such as Google and Yahoo.
After allegations from the Federal Trade Commission for violating Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA) , the company was ordered to pay a fine of $1 million.
Laws and Regulations
Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule (2000)
Sources
https://themarkup.org/ask-the-markup/2020/03/10/websites-tracking-kids-coppa
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2006/09/xangacom-pay-1-million-violating-childrens-online-privacy