New Study Finds 644 Unique Third Party Trackers Across 40 Top Websites Visited By Children

SAN FRANCISCO, June 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- As a new study reveals the high levels of tracking on top websites visited by children, TRUSTe, the leading data privacy management company announced it is offering new services to help companies meet the privacy needs of the post-Millennial generation of kids and ensure compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

In May 2014, the TRUSTe Website Monitoring Service scanned 40 of the top websites visited by children as ranked by Alexa.com. The TRUSTe Privacy Index: Kids Edition found 1,110 third party trackers on these websites from 644 different tracking organizations with an average of 24 third party trackers on pre-school websites, 25 on education sites, 29 on gaming sites and 34 on entertainment sites. The level of tracking varied significantly, ranging from less than 10 to over 180 third party trackers on the 40 sites analyzed.

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), requires website operators and app developers targeting children under age 13 to obtain the parents' consent before collecting personal information from them. Recent amendments to COPPA in 2013 widened the scope of personal information to include cookies and other tracking technologies with persistent identifiers. Now even more websites and mobile apps need to understand and be transparent about the levels of tracking on their websites and apps and obtain verifiable parental consent under COPPA.

In addition to certifying companies' compliance with COPPA, TRUSTe's Data Privacy Management Platform provides website operators with complete visibility of the data collection and use of tracking technologies on their site through the Website Monitoring Service, along with controls to provide verifiable parental consent (VPC) through a new partnership with AssertID.

Chris Babel, CEO TRUSTe said: "This post-Millennial generation of kids has access to unprecedented levels of technology and their online activities have been tracked from an early age. From toddlers to teens, kids online activity is monitored and their personal data is being collected, stored and possibly shared. Companies that are transparent about how they use kids data and earn the trust of parents and kids will ultimately be the most successful."

TRUSTe partners with AssertID

AssertID's new ConsentID™ service is designed to simplify and promote compliance with COPPA through an innovative, self-administered, cloud service for obtaining verifiable parental consent (VPC).

ConsentID™ features a Parent Portal which is accessible from any device including mobile phones, and provides all the tools a parent needs to quickly and easily understand an operator's policy and respond to consent requests. ConsentID's "success-based" pricing model provides companies with simplicity and clarity regarding their cost of VPC compliance. Operators only pay when consent is granted by the parent – they never pay for requests, denials or non-responses.

Gabe Totino, President & CTO of AssertID said:

"The COPPA rule has been under enforcement since 2000, but operators and app developers are still struggling with compliance. In principle, the rule's requirement is straightforward.  In practice however, the process of notifying the parent, verifying their identity and obtaining their consent – before the child or the parent loses interest and moves on – has proven to be challenging.

ConsentID™ aims to make VPC cost effective and responsive for the operator, and more informative and intuitive for parents in an effort to turn COPPA compliance from an administrative burden into a competitive advantage."

AssertID is TRUSTe Certified and has been verified to use approved methods for VPC as listed by the Federal Trade Commission.

About TRUSTe

TRUSTe is the leading global Data Privacy Management (DPM) company and powers trust in the data economy by enabling businesses to safely collect and use customer data across web, mobile, cloud and advertising channels. Our cloud-based Data Privacy Management Platform delivers innovative technology products, including website monitoring and advertising compliance controls – along with privacy assessments and certifications. More than 5,000 companies worldwide rely on our DPM platform and globally recognized Certified Privacy Seal to protect/enhance their brand, drive user engagement and minimize compliance risk. For more information, please see http://www.truste.com.

About AssertID, Inc.

AssertID is a software technology company specializing in online privacy and identity-verification solutions.  AssertID's services are designed to promote trust and civility in online interactions. Our ConsentID™ service is the first-of-its kind COPPA-compliant Verifiable Parental Consent (VPC) service in the cloud. For more information, visit www.assertid.com.

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SOURCE TRUSTe