Maryland COPPA Expansion Bill Called ‘Problematic’ on Ad Labeling
The Maryland Senate Finance Committee heard arguments Tuesday for and against SB 374. The bill would require websites to label advertisements when dealing with Maryland-based users under the age of 13 and extend protections under the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) to Maryland citizens, allowing COPPA violations to be prosecuted at the state level. The bill has the support of Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler, who also leads the National Association of Attorneys General, and who testified in favor of the bill. A hearing on the House of Delegates’ companion bill took place earlier this month.
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At the House of Delegates hearing, Gansler said he would support amendments that brought the bill’s language more in line with the language of the federal statute -- including eliminating the “reason to know” standard -- while maintaining his office’s ability to prosecute COPPA violations and keep Maryland children safe online.
State attorneys general can already prosecute COPPA violations, State Privacy and Security Coalition representative Earl Adams said in prepared testimony. While the statute requires attorneys generals to notify the FTC when they file a COPPA enforcement action, “the COPPA rules give state Attorney Generals the ability to bring COPPA enforcement actions without FTC approval,” he said. The agency wants to be notified to be prepared if it needs to intervene and has welcomed attorney general enforcement, he continued. “The idea that the FTC would block the Maryland Attorney General from bringing a COPPA enforcement action is baseless."
"The provision requiring labeling of ads is problematic,” said Ron Barnes, vice president-state affairs for the Direct Marketing Association, in prepared testimony against the bill. Sites would have to collect location information to know if they're dealing with Maryland-based children, and ads are often created by multiple entities, making it difficult to determine how to “clearly identify” it as an advertisement, he said. Additionally, the bill doesn’t clarify what kinds of advertisements need to be labeled, he said. “The bill is silent as to how streamed media on a tablet, for example, would be covered."
The Application Developers Alliance said the bill could do serious harm to application developers that reside in the state. Passing the bill “will send a clear signal that Maryland is hostile to high-tech,” said Courtney Lamie, the group’s communication director, in prepared testimony. The alliance “urges the Committee to refrain from voting on SB 374 until the local app industry has had an opportunity to review this proposal and to communicate its concerns,” she said.
The bill would not necessarily offer additional privacy benefits, Lamie said in testimony. “Given the existence of the federal COPPA statute and the regulations implementing it, it is unclear that SB 374 offers Maryland citizens any meaningful additional protection” while imposing “unjustified and imprudent” burdens on apps, she said.
State senators seem willing to work with the bill’s opponents, Lamie told us. “There was a lot of, ‘Yes, we understand the opposition’s concerns and we are continuing to work with the bills opponents,'” she said, calling the room of lawmakers “receptive” to the concerns she and other industry representatives voiced.