Westport, CT (May 22, 2000) - One month after the Child Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) went into affect, a survey of 327 child-oriented web sites, and found 93% out of compliance with the new regulation. The reasons for not complying ranged from "it does not affect us" from a site that published children's full names, e-mail addresses and hometowns to, "none of our visitors are children" from a toy site sponsoring a "dinosaur survey". Some sites force children to claim they are over 18 to participate. The survey was conducted from Wednesday, May 17 through Monday, May 22 with web site visits and follow up phone calls to webmasters and executives.

While some sites stopped providing services to children in order to be compliant, others have simply ignored the new regulations. Non-complying sites range from the dumb to the absurd:

"Kids" Sites That Only Have Adult Users

Many Toy, Beanie Baby and Pokemon sites, simply claim their visitors are adults, not children, so they do not need to comply.

Leading Kids To Lie

Fan clubs, pen pal, and magazines sites that clearly have audiences of children under 13 often have fine print on their registration forms that says, "By registering at this site you are agreeing that you are over 13". So, the child cannot be honest and participate. One site had a twelve- year-old posting a pen pal request right next to one from a "25 year old male looking for an older chubby man".

Winking at Compliance

A comic book site has a registration page with a check a box that says "If you are under 13 get your parent's or guardian's permission then check this box". Taking the child's word, but not following the requirements for parental notice, and opt-out.

Legal Loophole