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FTC Spanks Xanga Over Child Privacy
David Utter
Staff Writer
2006-09-08
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The Xanga online networking site drew a record $1 million fine from the Federal Trade Commission over its account registration practices.
 | | Xanga Fined Over Child Privacy |  |
Xanga drew a strong rebuke from the FTC in US District Court in New York. The company and its founders, Marc Ginsburg and John Hiler, managed to pick up an ignominious record by earning the biggest fine ever assessed by the FTC for violating the Child Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
The FTC said in its statement the fine was more than double the previously largest fine doled out to a COPPA offender.
"COPPA requires all commercial Web sites, including operators of social networking sites like Xanga, to give parents notice and obtain their consent before collecting personal information from kids they know are under 13," said FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras. "A million-dollar penalty should make that obligation crystal clear."
FTC made several allegations about those collection practices:
The Xanga site stated that children under 13 could not join, but then allowed visitors to create Xanga accounts even if they provided a birth date indicating they were under 13.
Further, they failed to notify the children's parents of their information practices or provide the parents with access to and control over their children's information.
The defendants created 1.7 million Xanga accounts over the past five years for users who submitted age information indicating they were under 13.
Xanga denied FTC charges that they were knowingly collecting and disclosing information from children under 13 years of age. Hiler, Xanga's CEO, responded to the accusation in a statement on the FTC settlement, and blamed users for the situation:
"Before these issues came to our attention, Xanga had in place a registration system intended to screen out underage users - reflecting our longstanding policy that no one under 13 is allowed to create an account.
"That system was inadequate because users were able to initially indicate that they were at least 13 years old when registering for the site, and then afterwards post a younger age on their profile. We found that an array of Xanga users created profiles with "birth dates" other than their actual day of birth when establishing their weblog.
"For example, pet bloggers registered with their pet's birthday, engaged bloggers registered with their wedding date, and religious bloggers registered with their "born again" date."
The company has set in place a series of changes to its safety and compliance program. Xanga also hired a chief safety officer, Stephen Kline, to define safety policies and work with law enforcement, parents, and advocacy groups.
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Tags: Xanga, FTC
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About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews and WebProNews.
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