united-states internet children coppa entertainment-law
Does COPPA ban children from playing video games online through a parent&#39;s account?
<p>A customer service representative at Nintendo recently told me that a parent can't let their Nintendo Account be used by their child for online play without violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) and that Nintendo can ban accounts for COPPA violations. A parent, he claimed, could only share their account with a child for <em>offline</em> play without violating COPPA.</p>
<p>I asked where within the Act such conduct is banned, and I was told I could find more information online. However, I thought that children under 13 can still legally give out personal information under COPPA so long as they have their parents' permission (although some sites like Facebook ban those under 13 simply to avoid having to deal with such issues).</p>
<p>Was the customer service representative correct in claiming that it violates COPPA for a parent to let their child use the parent's account for online gaming? What if the parent and child consent (which seems to be implied)? If this does violate COPPA, please show where within the Act it's banned.</p>
<p><strong>Wikipedia article on COPPA:</strong> <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/COPPA" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/COPPA</a></p>
<p><strong>Nintendo Account User Agreement</strong>: <a href="https://accounts.nintendo.com/term/eula/US?lang=en-US" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://accounts.nintendo.com/term/eula/US?lang=en-US</a></p>

<p>The COPPA regulations are <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/part-312" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/complying-coppa-frequently-asked-questions-0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a> is the FTC's explanation. The main thing to note is that there is no &quot;ban&quot; on children or parents, there is a &quot;ban&quot; on companies. The main features are that a company is forbidden from undertaking certain actions (in the realm of &quot;gathering information&quot;) in circumstances that involve the internet and people under 13. The restrictions don't specifically say &quot;you can(not) play a game online&quot;. But you can't gather information from children if that information in some way &quot;identifies&quot; the individual. The prohibition is against gathering such information from a child (not just information <em>about</em> a child), without &quot;verifiable consent&quot;. Violation of the law results in severe fines, and it may be impossible to prohibit a child from <em>providing</em> forbidden information (even a recording of their voice is a violation). The procedures for obtaining &quot;verifiable consent&quot; are not trivial.</p>
<p>The second sense according to which a child ban does exist is &quot;if you do this, you violate the TOS, and you are banned&quot;. That's the situation you describe. COPPA does not mandate this specific condition as part of the ToS, it is instead a business decision on the part of the service provider that such-and-such is the level of legal risk that they are willing to assume. The relation between the law and the ban is indirect – it's what's necessary to remain legally safe, in the judgment of the company.</p>
<p>Whether or not the ToS actually says what the agent thinks it says is a separate question: you would have to read the ToS for the account.</p>
