Unauthorized surveillance of children's whereabouts by robot playthings occurred without parental consent.
The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken action against a robot toy maker, Apitor Technology, for violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection (COPPA) Rule.
According to the FTC, Apitor integrated a third-party library called JPush into their app, allowing JPush's developer to collect location data from children using their robot toys. This level of precision could potentially reveal a child's home address, school, after-school locations, and specific places they visit.
COPPA treats such detailed geolocation data as highly sensitive personal information, and has strict rules about collecting it from children under the age of 13 years old. However, Apitor did not notify parents that a third party was collecting their children's location.
The FTC's Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, Christopher Mufarrige, emphasized that companies providing online services to kids must notify parents and get their consent if they are collecting personal information from their kids, even if the data is collected by a third party.
In a settlement, Apitor has agreed to the terms without admitting or denying the allegations. They will be under years of monitoring to ensure continuing compliance. As part of the settlement, Apitor is required to erase all illegally collected children's data.
Apitor Technology is not a stranger to such accusations. They were last fined $500,000 in the USA in 2023 for violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
Meanwhile, the FTC has announced that Disney will pay a $10 million dollar fine in settlement of claims it failed to correctly tag YouTube videos as "Made for Kids" as required by COPPA.
JPush's developer could use the collected location data for any purpose, including advertising. This practice is a clear violation of COPPA's requirements to prevent personal data collection and personalised ads for apps labelled as "Made for Kids".
In a statement, Mufarrige stated that Apitor allowed a Chinese third party to collect sensitive data from children in violation of COPPA, which is a serious breach of trust and a violation of children's privacy. Apitor has been permanently banned from collecting children's sensitive data without proper parental permission.
This incident serves as a reminder for all companies to prioritise children's privacy and comply with COPPA regulations to protect the personal information of children using their services.
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