The Federal Trade Commission on Monday announced a $50,000 settlement with app maker W3 Innovations for collecting the personal information of kids under 13.
W3 produces the Broken Thumbs apps, which includes Emily’s Girl World, Emily’s Dress Up, Emily’s Dress Up & Shop, and Emily’s Runway High Fashion. They encourage kids to create virtual models and design outfits, as well as email "Emily" with comments and blog submissions. Apple iOS users have downloaded the apps more than 50,000 times from the App Store.
The FTC said W3 collected the email addresses of these kids without their parents' permission and allowed them to publicly post information on message boards. That is in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which bans the collection and distribution of personal information from those under 13.
"The FTC’s COPPA Rule requires parental notice and consent before collecting children’s personal information online, whether through a Web site or a mobile app," FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement. "Companies must give parents the opportunity to make smart choices when it comes to their children’s sharing of information on smart phones."
In addition to the $50,000 fine, W3 is banned from future COPPA violations and must delete any information it has collected from its young users.
The W3 Web site and Twitter account have not been updated since 2009, but the Broken Thumbs apps have been updated in recent months, according to the App Store.
The FTC has also launched a Web site to help kids safely navigate the Web.
Rep. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who authored the House version of the COPPA Act, cheered the decision.
"Since COPPA was signed into law in 1998, children increasingly connect to the Internet on the go, using an array of mobile apps and new services that did not exist when the law was enacted," Markey said in a statement. "Earlier this year, I introduced the ‘Do Not Track Kids Act’ with Congressman Joe Barton to bring COPPA up to date and add additional safeguards for teens. I look forward to working with my colleagues to move forward our bipartisan bill so that we can provide strong protections for children and teens, enabling them to learn, communicate and enjoy entertainment in a safe online environment.”
In February, Markey and Sen. Amy Klobuchar penned letters to the FTC asking the agency to examine in-app purchases from Google and Apple and whether or not consumers are being unfairly charged. In March, Google tweaked its in-app purchase policy to require a password; Android in-app billing went live in late March.