Microsoft Agrees to Pay $20 Million Civil Penalty for Alleged Violations of Children’s Privacy Laws
Microsoft Agrees to Pay $20 Million Civil Penalty for Alleged Violations of Children’s Privacy Laws
The Justice Department, together with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), announced today that the United States has resolved a case against Microsoft Corp. regarding its practices for collecting and retaining personal information from children who use Microsoft’s Xbox Live service.
cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/94003
Microsoft knew that certain users were children but nonetheless continued to collect personal information, such as telephone numbers, before notifying parents of Microsoft’s information collection practices and before obtaining parental consent. In addition, the complaint alleges that, while Microsoft provided some notice to parents, that notice was incomplete and thus failed to comply with the COPPA Rule’s requirements. Finally, the complaint alleges that in certain instances when children started, but did not complete, creating Xbox Live accounts, Microsoft retained their personal information for longer than permitted by the COPPA Rule.
