Jackley urges stronger online safety protections for youth

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South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley recently joined 43 other Attorneys General in asking the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to update and strengthen the rules technology companies must follow under the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
Protection rules for children haven’t been updated in more than a decade, according to Jackley.
COPPA was enacted by Congress in 1998 to give parents more control over information collected online from their children. The legislation directed the FTC to establish regulations for operators of websites or online services regarding how they collect, use, and share personal information of children under 13 years of age.

The FTC is now proposing changes to the COPPA Rule that would place new restrictions on the use and disclosure of children’s personal information and further limit the ability of companies to monetize children’s data.
The Attorneys General are requesting the FTC expand limitations on “personal information” to include biometric identifiers such as fingerprints, retina and iris patterns, a DNA sequence, and data derived from voice data, gait data, and facial data, as well as avatars generated from a child’s image and likeness.
Other Attorney Generals who are part of the coalition are from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, U.S. Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
South Dakota legislators this year passed Senate Bill 79 which revises various levels of the state’s child pornography crimes and includes the Attorney General’s Office’s Senate Bill 25 which makes Artificial Intelligence-generated child pornography a crime.