If you operate a website and have cookies enabled and/or collect information via forms or other methods, you may want to take steps ensure you do not collect any information on children under the age of 13.
Laws, such as the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) have been in place for several years to limit the collection of data from children. The FTC took some time since 2010 to review possible updates to the law.
A list of updates can be found here. Among the updates, you will see:
*Personal information now includes photos, videos and geolocation information (e.g. IP Addresses)
*Website owners are required to ensure third parties that use their website also comply with COPPA
*Website owners must adopt procedures for data retention and deletion
COPPA's main target is operators of websites or online services that are either directed to children under 13 or have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information from children under 13. To the extent you fit this description, you must give notice to parents and get their verifiable consent before collecting, using, or disclosing such personal information, and keep secure the information you collect from children
Unless you ask your end user whether or not their are under the age of 13, this may be difficult in some cases. However, in order to take advantage of 'safe harbor' rules, it is in your best interest to look into age verification methods if you intend to use the data you collect.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Children's Online Privacy Protection - COPPA
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Internet Sales Tax - Online Retailers
It's the start of a new year - 2013!
You may have an amazing idea to build a new product. Once that product is built, you may want to start selling it online and shipping it everywhere in the United States, and even the rest of the world.
You can set up your shopping cart and integrate paypal and be ready to start taking orders soon, but wait...do you need to add and collect a state tax on any product you are selling?
Many of you have heard that Amazon has slowly started to collect sales tax, state by state. As Amazon continues to comply with new rules and regulations being implemented, it would be a good idea for you to start talking to your accountant to see if there are any taxes for which you should be aware.
If you are just starting out, most likely you have not hit a certain minimum threshhold for sales to even be looked at by a state taxing authority. But for others that may be selling millions of dollars of merchandise each year, you should definitely put 'sales tax review' on your to do list.
A recent article in businessweek talks about this hot topic: "It’s Retailer vs. Retailer in Internet Sales Tax Push"
Good luck with your new online venture, but make sure to talk to your accountant and attorney for additional items to consider as you continue to grow!
Monday, December 3, 2012
Verisign .COM Price Increases Restricted
Congress has restricted Verisign from increasing the wholesale price of .com domain names from above $7.85 except for limited circumstances that require Congress to sign off. http://articles.marketwatch.com/2012-11-30/markets/35474642_1_verisign-registry-operator-domain-name-registry
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
New gTLD Applied-For Strings
Check out the new .gTLDs applied for at ICANN: http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/application-results/strings-1200utc-13jun12-en
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