We missed this earlier: The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC), on May 22, sued an Ed-tech company Edmodo for using children’s data for non-educational purposes without parents’ consent, according to a statement by the consumer protection body. In a move that serves as a warning for Ed-tech companies, the FTC has obtained an order from the Department of Justice against Edmodo for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule (COPPA Rule) and for “outsourcing its COPPA compliance responsibilities to schools”. Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, stated that the order will make it clear that Ed-tech providers cannot “force students to choose between their privacy and education”. According to the statement, this is the first FTC order in line with the policy statement issued by the body in May 2022, which cautioned companies against forcing parents and schools to “surrender children’s privacy rights” in order for them to access educational services. What’s the case about? According to a complaint by the US Department of Justice on behalf of FTC, California-based Ed-tech provider Edmodo violated numerous sections of the COPPA Rule. It states that Edmodo has illegally collected personal information of students until 2022—of children under 13 years of age covered by the rule—without providing “direct notice of its information practices” to the parents and without obtaining their direct consent for using such information. Edmodo has suspended operations in the US. Additionally, the complaint also alleges that the company retained such data for longer than…
