Tuesday, March 6, 2012
WASHINGTON, DC – A bipartisan group of lawmakers is hosting a briefing to discuss how to protect children and teens from being tracked when they are on the Internet. The Wednesday event, hosted by the Congressional Bipartisan Privacy Caucus, will focus on the “Do Not Track Kids Act of 2011” (H.R. 1895) authored by Congressmen Ed Markey (D-MA) and Joe Barton (R-TX). The discussion will feature actor Nick Cannon, host of “America’s Got Talent”, and other key stakeholders.
“The Markey-Barton bill takes important steps to strengthen and improve protections for children and teens as they surf the web. The updates to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act included in the legislation will go a long way in making sure that our children are not taken advantage of online,” said Ioana Rusu, regulatory counsel for Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy division of Consumer Reports.
The legislation prohibits internet companies from sending targeted advertising to children and minors and collecting personal and location information without parental or individual consent. The bill also puts in place rules of the road for marketing to teens in order to ensure that they are more protected when surfing the web.
Rusu said, “Kids and teens should be treated differently from adults when they’re online. They are a vulnerable population. They often don’t understand the consequences of widely sharing their personal data on social networks and with advertisers. We are hopeful that this briefing will bring deserved attention to this bipartisan effort and we urge lawmakers to put their support behind this bill.”
The briefing is scheduled for Wednesday, March 7th at 11 AM. For more information, contact Representative Markey or Representative Barton’s office.
Contact: David Butler or Kara Kelber, 202-462-6262