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ARTICLE · 18 JULY 2016

FTC's First COPPA Action Against Mobile Ad Network Highlights Risks For Operators As Well

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Under the settlement, InMobi will pay the FTC $950,000 in civil penalties (reduced from $4 million, the largest COPPA penalty to date), delete all inappropriately collected data and implement a comprehensive privacy program.

United StatesMedia, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment
Gary Kibel
Gary Kibel
Allison Fitzpatrick
Allison Fitzpatrick
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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced its first action against a mobile ad network, InMobi, for violations of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), claiming that the provider collected geolocation data from millions of consumers, including children, without their consent. Under the settlement, InMobi will pay the FTC $950,000 in civil penalties (reduced from $4 million, the largest COPPA penalty to date), delete all inappropriately collected data and implement a comprehensive privacy program.

First COPPA Action Against Mobile Ad Network

In 2013, the FTC announced a number of updates to COPPA ("new COPPA") (to read a previous D&G Alert on this topic, please click here), including an expansion of the definition of "personal information" to cover: (1) geolocation data that identifies a child's city and street; (2) photos, videos and audio files that contain a child's image or voice; and (3) persistent identifiers, such as tracking cookies used

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