What catalogers need to know about consumer privacy regulations.

By Reported Donna Loyle

How this affects catalogers: COPPA applies to both childrens’ Web sites and general commercial Web sites whose operators know they’re collecting PII from children (see “What is PII?”). COPPA’s goal is to place parents in control of the online collection of data from their children, said Elizabeth Delaney, an attorney in the FTC’s division of advertising practices, and a speaker at the recent Data and Privacy Security Summit held in Washington, D.C. Putting disclaimers, such as “Children under 13 cannot visit,” on your site won’t effectively protect you, she noted. Neither will making it optional for site visitors to offer their own PII.