Toy Association Submits Comments to FTC on New Method of Obtaining Parental Consent under COPPA

August 21, 2023 | The Toy Association™, incorporating feedback from its Children’s Online Safety Committee members, submitted comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in support of a proposal for a new method for obtaining parental consent under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule.

The proposed parental consent method, which was submitted to the FTC by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), SuperAwesome, and technology provider Yoti, features “Privacy-Protective Facial Age Estimation,” a mechanism that that analyzes the geometry of the consenting person's face to confirm the person is an adult. Links to the proposed Federal Register notice and the application for approval, which provides useful screenshots that explain how the technology works, are available here.

In the comments, The Toy Association emphasizes its dedication to children's safety and considers the proposed mechanism a valuable addition to the suite of approved parental consent methods because the facial age estimation technology is easy to use and aligns with privacy concerns.

“The proposed ‘Privacy-Protective Facial Age Estimation’ does not attempt to identify a specific individual,” said Jennifer Gibbons, senior vice president of government affairs at The Toy Association. “Rather, it utilizes images uploaded by a parent and scans the pixels, which go into a mathematical model that generates a number the system recognizes as an 'adult.' Uploaded images are not shared or stored. This mechanism not only upholds stringent privacy standards, but also offers a user-friendly approach that can be especially appealing to parents.”

Under the COPPA Rule, online sites and services directed to children under 13 must obtain parental consent before collecting or using personal information from a child. The Rule lays out several acceptable methods for gaining parental consent, but also includes a provision allowing interested parties to submit new verifiable parental consent methods to the FTC for approval.

Members may reach out to The Toy Association’s Jennifer Gibbons with any questions on this topic.