The Minneapolis St Paul Business Journal reports that Minnesota’s own General Mills is one of several companies in trouble for not protecting privacy of children who visit their sites…

Online marketing efforts by General Mills Inc. and other companies are coming under fire by a coalition of advocacy, health and public interest groups who say websites, like the company’s TrixWorld.com, are violating federal privacy laws for children.

AdWeek details the problem…

On the sites, the companies ask children who are participating in brand-related games or activities to share their experience with friends by providing their email addresses. Those friends are then sent a personalized online appeal. McDonald’s website for Happy Meals goes a step further, inviting children to make a music video by uploading their pictures and encouraging them to share the video with up to four friends, who then receive an email from McDonald’s: “You’ve been tagged for fun by a friend! Check it out! It’s a Star in Video at the McDonald’s Happy Meal Website.”

The practice turns the children, arguably less savvy about viral marketing than teens and adults, into mini-ad messengers for the brand.

Here’s a very abridged version of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)…

It is unlawful for an operator of a website or online service directed to children, or any operator that has actual knowledge that it is collecting personal information from a child, to collect personal information from a child in a manner that violates the regulations prescribed under subsection (b) …

regulations that— require the operator of any website or online service directed to children that collects personal information from children or the operator of a website or online service that has actual knowledge that it is collecting personal information from a child …

to obtain verifiable parental consent for the collection, use, or disclosure of personal information from children;

The concern here is that the companies in question have apparently not required parental consent.

I think it’s good that there are folks out there who are looking at what people are doing online. I have three kids age 13 and under. I am amazed how rarely I am asked for parent consent from them – which I suspect means they ignore any request. I think this is also an example of why digital literacy and information literacy programs are so important for kids. They need to understand their privacy rights and responsibilities; they need to understand what they give up when they share information well enough to be able to make an informed decision about sharing – because some sites aren’t following the rules and even for the sites that are, the rules are not high barriers for motivated kids.