{"id":8280,"date":"2020-10-07T12:56:29","date_gmt":"2020-10-07T16:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:10028\/uncategorized\/google-accused-of-selling-childrens-personal-information\/"},"modified":"2020-10-07T12:56:29","modified_gmt":"2020-10-07T16:56:29","slug":"google-accused-of-selling-childrens-personal-information","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/article\/google-accused-of-selling-childrens-personal-information\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Accused of Selling Children\u2019s Personal Information"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to a recent study, as many as two-thirds<\/a><\/u> of the apps aimed at toddlers and preschoolers on Google Play may be in direct violation of the Children\u2019s Online Privacy Protection Act.<\/p>\n

Seemingly mindless apps and games are a treasure trove of information for marketers, explained lead study author Dr. Jenny Radesky.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is incredible how much can be inferred from a child’s gameplay behavior: their impulsivity, responses to rewards, or information processing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEducational technology reveals even more about our children’s strengths and weaknesses, including data such as their behavioral self-control or learning disabilities,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

For these reasons, federal law specifically prohibits this kind of data tracking.<\/p>\n

A pair of companion studies concluded that the \u201cFamily and Games & Entertainment\u201d category had more active third-party trackers than any other category, and most of these trackers do not respect COPPA rules.<\/p>\n

COPPA Actions<\/h2>\n

Adults essentially waive their right to privacy when they go online.<\/p>\n

But it is illegal to harvest personal information, like device ID numbers, email addresses, and geographic locations, from children.<\/p>\n

But many companies flaunt these laws.<\/p>\n

TikTok, the controversial Chinese-based app, is perhaps the leading example of COPPA violations.<\/p>\n

In 2019, the Federal Trade Commission levied a $5.7 million fine against the company for repeated COPPA violations.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the largest fine the agency has ever assessed. Shortly thereafter, TikTok agreed to pay a group of parents $1.1 million<\/a><\/u> to settle a similar matter.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an example of a private right of action, a feature embedded in many federal laws.<\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors and bureaucrats eagerly take on high profile cases like TikTok privacy violations.<\/p>\n

But they often do not show similar interest in other cases. Unless these victims partner with a class action lawsuit attorney<\/a><\/u>, justice might not be available.<\/p>\n

Whistleblower actions are another example. Federal prosecutors are anxious to punish companies that do wrong, but individual whistleblowers often must fend for themselves.<\/p>\n

Private attorneys know how to protect these individuals from subtle and not-so-subtle retaliation.<\/p>\n

Frequently, civil actions like these become class action lawsuits, because so many victims are affected at once.<\/p>\n

Class action lawsuits allow victims from different states and backgrounds to come together, pool their resources, and take on large multinational corporations like Musical.ly, the shadowy Cayman Islands-based corporation which owns TikTok.<\/p>\n

Data Privacy<\/h2>\n

When companies collect information, they have a legal obligation to safeguard that data.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s especially true of PII, or Personal Identifying Information, like addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, and bank account information.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of serious data breaches are reported each year.<\/p>\n

There are probably many more, but companies usually try to keep these incidents under wraps. They do not want to alarm customers and drive them away.<\/p>\n

Damages in a data privacy claim usually include compensation for economic losses, such as financial losses tied to the breach, and noneconomic losses, such as emotional distress.<\/p>\n

Because these companies often refuse to help victims, additional punitive damages might be available as well.<\/p>\n

Data privacy is one of the most important issues of our time.<\/p>\n

For a free consultation with an experienced civil litigation attorney<\/a><\/u>, contact Napoli Shkolnik . We handle these claims on a nationwide basis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to a recent study, as many as two-thirds of the apps aimed at toddlers and preschoolers on Google Play may be in direct violation of the Children\u2019s Online Privacy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8281,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[774],"tags":[895,927,1006,1009,1019,815],"class_list":["post-8280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-napoli-shkolnik-news","tag-class-actions","tag-class-action-lawyers","tag-data-breach","tag-privacy","tag-civil-litigation","tag-general-negligence"],"acf":[],"page_builder_type":"gutenberg","gutenberg_data":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}