The Fine, Endless Print (COPPA and Online Services)

Anyone who has signed up for an online service is familiar with the seemingly-never-ending user agreement that has to be agreed to before receiving access.  For those of us without a law degree, some of the language can be challenging to completely understand, but there are some really important details in those agreements.  Especially for us who teach or have children under thirteen years of age.  Web service providers must comply with a Federal law called the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).  COPPA, in short, requires Web service operators to receive "verifiable parental consent" before collecting any personal information from children twelve or under.  Personal information could include items like name, location, school, etc.  Consequently, many mainstream providers (Google, Facebook...) deny access to users under thirteen because they cannot or don't want to go through the hassle of obtaining the "verifiable parental consent" that COPPA requires. 

If you teach children effected by COPPA, how do you comply with the law and still use some of the wonderful services on the Web to teach and learn?  Here is my advice:

1. Be mindful of  COPPA each time you want to use a service with your students. 
2. Only use a service with your twelve and under students if they do not have to create accounts, or if they can create accounts with parental permission and you have collected the permission, or if the school district assumes the responsibility for complying with COPPA.

Here are a few examples:

docs.google.com

You can create a Google Docs document (text, spreadsheet, etc.) and publish it on the Web, allowing anyone with a link to edit it.  Thus, your students do not need an account, are not providing Google with any personal information, and are complying with COPPA.  Obviously, it is still important to talk to your students about what information is appropriate and safe to put in the Web. 

edmodo.com

Many sites like Edmodo, which are intended for the K-12 environment, allow access to users under thirteen as long as the teacher or school collects parental permission.  If you use a service like Edmodo, make sure you collect parental permission.  An efficient way to do this is by listing all the COPPA compliant sites you want to use in your class during the year in one permission form.  Tell your parents explicitly what the site is, its rules, and what you expect your students to be doing on the site.

google.com/a/edu

Although users must be at least thirteen to sign up for a Google account, many districts, like Durham Public Schools, are piloting and implementing Google Apps for Education.  The district agrees to comply with COPPA by collecting, maybe with your help, the needed permission slips.