{"id":2354,"date":"2016-09-19T15:10:27","date_gmt":"2016-09-19T22:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foundrylawgroup.com\/?p=2354"},"modified":"2020-12-30T14:25:40","modified_gmt":"2020-12-30T22:25:40","slug":"minors-making-payments-cost-violating-coppa-easy-fixes-make-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foundrylawgroup.com\/minors-making-payments-cost-violating-coppa-easy-fixes-make-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Minors Making Payments: The Cost of Violating COPPA &#038; Easy Fixes to Make Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>A Time Old Tale: A\u00a0Founder\u2019s (Frenetic) Internal Thoughts <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">2 weeks to launch date<\/span><\/strong>. So many things to do. But first, another cup of coffee. Oh, but before that, let me ping the website designer for a quick status update on that misspelling on the landing page\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">1 week to launch date<\/span><\/strong>. Should we push this thing out a bit? No, we need to do this now. Perfect is the enemy of good, let\u2019s just get this launched and fix that issue with the product page images later. Should I get coffee now, or just save it for that meeting in half an hour?&#8230; <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">2 days to launch date<\/span><\/strong>. 11:26pm. <u>Can <strong>kids<\/strong> pay by credit card<\/u> when they check out? Hold on, do kids these days have their own credit cards? No way. What if they use their parents\u2019 cards\u2026they might not even tell them about the purchase! Hmm\u2026this could be some exposure I don\u2019t want to take on. We should have thought about privacy issues too. I\u2019m sure children are protected differently from adults. I\u2019ll send Zainab an email right now \u2013 or maybe it\u2019s too late? \u2013 It\u2019s ok, we\u2019ll schedule a call tomorrow. We\u2019re launching in 48 hours&#8230; <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">***<\/p>\n<p>Founders! Startups! If you are operating an online business, or have a website or mobile application through which you collect data (regardless of whether you then sell it, disclose it, store it or delete it), there are a few basic things to have in place:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Privacy Statements: what are you telling your users you do with data?<\/li>\n<li>Privacy Policies: what are the internal policies you and your team will follow?<\/li>\n<li>Terms of Use, Terms of Service and\/or End User License Agreement(s)<\/li>\n<li>Basic data security measures your business has and should have in place at launch<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>One common question I receive from my clients is specifically how to handle children accessing, using, and sometimes even making purchases through their businesses. For a refresher on the Children\u2019s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><a style=\"color: #993300;\" href=\"http:\/\/foundrylawgroup.com\/coppa-protecting-childrens-online-privacy\/\">this primer<\/a><\/span> is nifty. Many online platforms have responded to COPPA by limiting access to those under the age of 13 (i.e. \u201cminors\u201d as defined and regulated under COPPA).COPPA violations are monitored by the FTC and there are many policies and regulations to follow if your website is directed at kids below 13. You might have come across pop-up boxes to verify age, or birthday information as a required field upon sign-up. If there is no sign-up function to your platform, often your stated Terms of Use will say something to the effect of \u201cThis Site is not intended and should not be used by children under the age of 13\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-2355\" src=\"http:\/\/foundrylawgroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1-1251904084vZF6-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"387\" height=\"258\" srcset=\"https:\/\/foundrylawgroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1-1251904084vZF6-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/foundrylawgroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1-1251904084vZF6-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/foundrylawgroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1-1251904084vZF6-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/foundrylawgroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1-1251904084vZF6.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 387px) 100vw, 387px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>But\u00a013 year olds cannot pay for services online, unless they have a credit card that an adult is co-signer on. It\u2019s important to recognize\u00a0that the issue of \u201cpayment by minors\u201d really applies to those under\u00a0<strong>18<\/strong>. The legal minimum age for a credit card in the US is 18, so technically anyone under <em>18<\/em> will need to have a co-signer. It is difficult for a business to know when cards are properly co-signed, or when an adult&#8217;s credit card is misused by someone under the age of 18 (knowingly or with permission of adult). Moreover, your business should not bear the responsibility (and liability) for monitoring this.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Given this, the <strong>payment issue affects users between the age of 13-17<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I generally recommend the businesses use an age verification tool of their choice, to present\u00a0two versions of their business \u2013 one that allows payment options to those who indicate they are\u00a0<strong>older than 18<\/strong>, and one without payment options to those who indicate that they are\u00a0<strong>younger than 18<\/strong>. Coupled with the other documents I draft, like outward facing privacy statements and terms of use, as well as internal documents outlining privacy and data security protocols your business has in place, ensures a robust framework from which to remain compliant with COPPA if your website or app allows\u00a0users to make purchases.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Time Old Tale: A\u00a0Founder\u2019s (Frenetic) Internal Thoughts 2 weeks to launch date. So many things to do. But first, another cup of coffee. Oh, but before that, let me ping the website designer for a quick status update on that misspelling on the landing page\u2026 1 week to launch date. Should we push this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[687,622,708,1008,704,624],"tags":[1015,935,1009,1023,1011,775,1024,1013,1022,765,758,1021,903,1014],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Minors Making Payments: The Cost of Violating COPPA &amp; Easy Fixes to Make Now - Foundry Law Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how your business can comply with COPPA and properly handle children accessing, using and making payments through your website or mobile application.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/foundrylawgroup.com\/minors-making-payments-cost-violating-coppa-easy-fixes-make-now\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Minors Making Payments: The Cost of Violating COPPA &amp; 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