Internet Privacy Acts for Children

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CIPA & COPPA

Image Source: raisingconnectedkids.com

With technology and the internet playing important pieces in our students' lives, as educators, we need to do our best to protect and keep them safe. I hate to admit this, but I was not very informed about both the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). I have heard of these acronyms from my technology director and I know there is information regarding these acts in our acceptable use policy, but I have never been formally instructed on the purpose of these protection acts. I know that I cannot be the only teacher that feels this way as well. With how much we use technology and the internet inside of our classrooms, all educators should be well informed of the laws that help keep our students safe online. 

I wanted to take a closer look into CIPA and COPPA since I was not too familiar with  them. I was able to learn more about what each of these acts does to protect our children through this fantastic video.

Image Source: nuedusec.edu

The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requires school districts to put filters into place that block harmful content that can be found on the internet. These filters should block out child pornography, obscene photos/photos that would be harmful to minors, cyberbullies, and child predators. Putting these filters into place allows districts to stay compliant with CIPA and receive funding. 

Image Source: greenville.k.12.sc.us

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) was created to restrict the information collected from children under the age of 13. This was in order to maintain their privacy and not distribute their personal information throughout the internet.

Takeaways

I believe that CIPA and COPPA are important pieces to have in place to help keep children safe while using technology and the internet. Without them, our children would be exposed to many things that would not be appropriate for them. As technology keeps evolving, the entities that lead these privacy acts need to be proactive in making charges so children are staying safe and not sharing their personal information. 

I do think more education is needed for school staff when it comes to the specifics of CIPA and COPPA. If I did not take this course, I would still be in the dark about what these two privacy acts covered. It is also important that we provide training to parents about how to keep their children safe on the internet when they are at home. 

When it comes to a target age, I feel like it is very hard to put one to these privacy acts because children younger than 13 are using the internet and popular social media apps on a daily basis. I have similar feelings to danah boyd when it comes to COPPA teaching children to lie. In order for these kids to access many of these popular social media apps, they need to be 13 or older or have parent consent. I find it hard to believe that they would be going to their parents to ask to sign up for Snapchat or Facebook. I think they are choosing to lie about their age in order to sign up for the platform. Because of this, I think it would be beneficial for CIPA and COPPA to put in some language that would protect children under the age of 13 as well. 

Comments

  1. Herlinda VargasApril 20, 2022 at 9:19 PM

    Hi Katie,

    Great informative post! I totally agree with you on the part about giving teachers and parents more knowledge about what CIPA, COPPA and other laws are. Just like you, I was unaware of what exactly they were. As educators, we need to understand these especially if we do plan on using social media in the classroom. It also doesn't stop in the classroom - parents should have the information so that they can monitor their child's usage of these apps at home.

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  2. Staci LechApril 21, 2022 at 3:43 PM

    Hello Katie!

    I have to kick it off and agree with you about not being well informed about federal laws. Of course when I was hired, there was a brief presentation by the technology director on how the laws would be changing, but let’s face it-I was too excited that I was hired to focus on CIPA and COPPA laws. Formal training and the importance of this I feel is key. If we are able to learn about the basics of these laws, then it can be very simple and beneficial to help our students be better prepared for their internet future. I also feel that as social media, internet and technology are ever changing, I think that the laws eventually should continue to change and support having proper policies and procedures to ensure the safety of all students and staff.

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  3. NMZumpanoApril 21, 2022 at 4:48 PM

    Very interesting point about the age factor. Thirteen is a truly arbitrary number and you are correct- several students under this age are opening social media accounts. It's definitely a tangled web! Happy to hear you learned something new from exploring this content.

    ReplyDelete

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