NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Addendum re Google Blogger Shutdown Issues / Speculation re COPPA
Addendum re Google Blogger Shutdown Issues / Speculation re COPPA In reference to the Blogger shutdown warnings noted in "Tracking Google's New 'Short Fuse' Blogger Shutdown Policy" ( http://j.mp/17sMCrl ), it has been suggested (and it occurred to me as well) that the timing of this sudden policy change by Google somehow relates to the new COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) regulations coming into force on 1 July (Monday). Coincidence? Maybe. COPPA's primary focus in on collection of personal information (broadly defined, even including cookies, IP addresses, and processor or device serial numbers) from "child-directed" websites (not primarily sites that are not oriented toward children). And while the new COPPA regs do expand site owner responsibility to include any associated ad network practices, there is no direct connection between all this and adult advertising/adult affiliate links per se -- that I'm aware of anyway. So without an *extremely* broad reading of the regs that seems difficult to justify, there doesn't seem to be an *obvious* nexus between the COPPA changes and Google's actions. But even if there were (or is), the COPPA changes have been coming down the pipeline for quite some time. The sudden announcement of a policy change just four days ahead under such circumstances would seem nonsensical, unless somebody seriously dropped the ball somewhere, or a last minute interpretation caused a panicky decision to change the formal policies at the last minute. Overall, this isn't making a lot of sense. There's likely a missing factor, and whether it's COPPA or something else just isn't clear. Unfortunately, Blogger users affected by this sudden Google policy change are in the same boat pretty much either way. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info Founder: - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info - Data Wisdom Explorers League: http://www.dwel.org - Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren / Twitter: http://vortex.com/t-lauren Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com _______________________________________________ nnsquad mailing list http://lists.nnsquad.org/mailman/listinfo/nnsquad