Permission Slip.

• Author: Sager, Ryan H.
• Position: Federal Trade Commission approves new rules on Internet marketing to children - Brief Article

In October, the Federal Trade Commission voted unanimously to approve final regulations requiring Web sites to obtain parental consent before collecting personal information, such as names, ages, or e-mail addresses, from children under the age of 13. The rule was drafted hastily after privacy advocates began complaining about Internet marketing to children.

Given all the scare stories it's easy to forget that the issue is much ado about next to nothing. Once you get past the apocalyptic rhetoric that still clings to many Internet-related stories, the privacy advocates were simply shocked that companies were pitching products to kids--something that happens during every half-hour of TV and every time a school bus passes a billboard.

Though the new regulations will undoubtedly reduce the flow of information between children and businesses, they will also hurt smaller Web site operators and shut many kids out of parts of cyberspace. The FTC requires that a site get parental...