Contact:

David Monahan, CCFC (david@commercialfreechildhood.org; 617-896-9397)

Jeff Chester, CDD (jeff@democraticmedia.org; 202-494-7100)

Apps which Google rates as safe for kids violate their privacy and expose them to other harms

The Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) respectfully urges the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to adopt regulations to ensure that voters will have meaningful transparency and control over the digital data and marketing practices used in elections today. The FEC must boldly act and use its legal authority and leadership position to enact—as well as recommend—much-needed safeguards.

WASHINGTON, DC – October 18, 2017—A number of brands of “smartwatches” intended to help parents monitor and protect young children have major security and privacy flaws which could endanger the children wearing them. A coalition of leading U.S. child advocacy, consumer, and privacy groups sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today, asking the agency to investigate the threat these watches pose to children.

Washington, DC (March 6, 2017): The Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, Common Sense Kids Action, Consumer Action and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reject industry requests to rescind the FCC’s broadband privacy rules, as this would leave parents effectively without any tools to protect their children’s privacy on broadband Internet Service Provider networks (ISPs).

WASHINGTON, DC – December 6, 2016 – The growing popularity of “smart” Internet-connected toys poses significant privacy, security, and other risks to children, according to a complaint filed today by leading child advocacy, consumer, and privacy groups at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

 ... ISPs are engaged in cross-device tracking of its subscribers and customers which allow them to target advertising at the individual and household level.  Exemplary for all ISPs, we are highlighting AT&T’s efforts in this area.

We believe that the absence of any FCC rulemaking to protect the privacy of broadband customers would significantly add to the already prevalent sense of confusion and sense of loss of control among broadband internet customers under the existing FTC regime. Instead, the proposed rules will give ISP customers much needed control over their data and are much more likely to increase consumer confidence. 

The Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), a nonprofit organization representing the interests of consumers in the digital marketplace, strongly supports the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) proposal to empower individuals to make effective decisions regarding their privacy on broadband networks. Broadband Internet access service (BIAS) plays a powerful and distinctive role in the commercial digital media marketplace, requiring precisely the set of sensible safeguards offered by the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM).