Online collection, use, disclosure, and deletion of personal information of children and teens

(a) Definitions Section 1302 of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6501) is amended— (1) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows: (1) Child The term child means an individual under the age of 14.; (2) by amending paragraph (2) to read as follows: (2) Operator The term operator — (A) means any person— (i) who, for commercial purposes in interstate or foreign commerce, operates or provides a website on the internet, an online service, an online application, or a mobile application; and (ii) who— (I) collects or maintains, either directly or through a service provider, personal information from or about the users of that website, service, or application; (II) allows another person to collect personal information directly from users of that website, service, or application (in which case, the operator is deemed to have collected the information); or (III) allows users of that website, service, or application to publicly disclose personal information (in which case, the operator is deemed to have collected the information); and (B) does not include any nonprofit entity that would otherwise be exempt from coverage under section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45).; (3) in paragraph (4)— (A) by amending subparagraph (A) to read as follows: (A) the release of personal information collected from a child or teen by an operator for any purpose, except where the personal information is provided to a person other than an operator who— (i) provides support for the internal operations of the website, online service, online application, or mobile application of the operator, excluding any activity relating to individual-specific advertising to children or teens; and (ii) does not disclose or use that personal information for any other purpose; and; and (B) in subparagraph (B)— (i) by inserting or teen after child each place the term appears; (ii) by striking website or online service and inserting website, online service, online application, or mobile application; and (iii) by striking actual knowledge and inserting knowledge; (4) by amending paragraph (8) to read as follows: (8) Personal information (A) In general The term personal information means individually identifiable information about an individual collected online, including— (i) a first and last name; (ii) a home or other physical address, including a street name and a name of a city or town; (iii) an e-mail address; (iv) a telephone number; (v) a Social Security number; (vi) any other identifier that the Commission determines permits the physical or online contacting of a specific individual; (vii) a persistent identifier that can be used to recognize a specific child or teen over time and across different websites, online services, online applications, or mobile applications, that— (I) includes— (aa) a customer number held in a cookie; (bb) an Internet Protocol (IP) address; (cc) a processor or device serial number; and (dd) a unique device identifier; and (II) excludes an identifier that is used by an operator solely for providing support for the internal operations of the website, online service, online application, or mobile application; (viii) a photograph, video, or audio file that contains the image or voice of a specific child or teen; (ix) geolocation information; (x) information generated from the measurement or technological processing of an the biological, physical, or physiological characteristics of an individual that is used to identify an individual, including— (I) fingerprints; (II) voice prints; (III) iris or retina imagery scans; (IV) facial templates; (V) deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) information; and (VI) gait; and (xi) information linked or reasonably linkable to a child or teen or a parent of a child or teen (including any unique identifier) that an operator collects online from the child or teen and combines with an identifier described in this subparagraph. (B) Exclusion The term personal information does not include an audio file that contains the voice of a child or teen if the operator— (i) does not request information via voice that would otherwise be considered personal information under this paragraph; (ii) provides clear notice of its collection and use of the audio file and its deletion policy in its privacy policy; (iii) only uses the voice contained in the audio file as a replacement for written words to perform a task or otherwise engage with a website, online service, online application, or mobile application, including by performing a search and fulfilling a verbal instruction or request; (iv) only maintains the audio file during the period necessary to complete the relevant task or engagement; (v) does not make any other use of the audio file during such period; and (vi) deletes the audio file at the end of such period. (C) Support for the internal operations of a website, online service, online application, or mobile application (i) In general For purposes of subparagraph (A)(vii), the term support for the internal operations of a website, online service, online application, or mobile application means the activities necessary to such website, service, or application to— (I) maintain or analyze functioning; (II) perform network communications; (III) authenticate users; (IV) personalize content; (V) serve contextual advertising to users (if any persistent identifier is only used as necessary for technical purposes to serve the contextual advertisement or cap the frequency of contextual advertising; (VI) protect the security or integrity of the user, website, online service, online application, or mobile application; (VII) ensure legal or regulatory compliance, or (VIII) fulfill a request of a child or teen under subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of section 1303(b)(2). (ii) Condition Except as specifically permitted under clause (i), information collected through the activities described in clause (i) may not be used or disclosed to contact a specific individual (including through individual-specific advertising to children or teens), to amass a profile on a specific individual, in connection with processes that encourage or prompt use of a website or online service, or for any other purpose.; (5) by amending paragraph (9) to read as follows: (9) Verifiable consent The term verifiable consent means any reasonable effort (taking into consideration available technology) by an operator, including a request for authorization for future collection, use, and disclosure described in the notice, to ensure that a parent of a child (in the case of a child) or a teen (in the case of a teen)— (A) receives direct notice of the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure practices of the operator with respect to personal information; and (B) before the personal information of the child or teen is collected, freely and unambiguously authorizes— (i) the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure, as applicable, of the personal information; and (ii) any subsequent use of the personal information.; (6) in paragraph (10)— (A) in the heading, by striking Website or online service directed to children and inserting Website, online service, online application, or mobile application directed to children; (B) in subparagraph (A)— (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking website or online service directed to children and inserting website, online service, online application, or mobile application directed to children; (ii) in clause (i), by striking commercial website or online service and inserting website, online service, online application, or mobile application; and (iii) in clause (ii), by striking commercial website or online service and inserting website, online service, online application, or mobile application; (C) in subparagraph (B), by striking commercial website or online service each place the term appears and inserting website, online service, online application, or mobile application; and (D) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: (C) Rule of construction In considering whether a website, online service, online application, or mobile application, or portion thereof, is directed to children, the Commission shall apply a totality of circumstances test and will also consider competent and reliable empirical evidence regarding audience composition and evidence regarding the intended audience of the website, online service, online application, or mobile application.; and (7) by adding at the end the following: (13) Connected device The term connected device means a device that is capable of connecting to the internet, directly or indirectly, or to another connected device. (14) Online application The term online application — (A) means an internet-connected software program; and (B) includes a service or application offered via a connected device. (15) Mobile application The term mobile application — (A) means a software program that runs on the operating system of— (i) a cellular telephone; (ii) a tablet computer; or (iii) a similar portable computing device that transmits data over a wireless connection; and (B) includes a service or application offered via a connected device. (16) Geolocation information The term geolocation information means information sufficient to identify a street name and name of a city or town. (17) Teen The term teen means an individual who has attained the age of 14 and is under the age of 18. (18) Individual-specific advertising to children or teens (A) In general The term individual-specific advertising to children or teens means advertising or any other effort to market a product or service that is directed to a specific child or teen or a connected device that is linked or reasonably linkable to a child or teen based on— (i) personal information of— (I) the child or teen; or (II) a group of children or teens who are similar in sex, age, household income level, race, or ethnicity to the specific child or teen to whom the product or service is marketed; (ii) profiling of such child or teen or group of children or teens; or (iii) a unique identifier of such connected device. (B) Exclusions The term individual-specific advertising to children or teens shall not include— (i) advertising or marketing to an individual or to a device of an individual in response to a specific request by the individual for information or feedback, such as a search query by a child or teen; (ii) contextual advertising, including if an advertisement is displayed based on the content of the website, online service, online application, mobile application, or connected device on which the advertisement appears and does not vary based on personal information of an individual who views the advertisement; (iii) processing personal information solely for measuring or reporting advertising or content performance, reach, or frequency, including independent measurement; or (iv) advertising or marketing directed to a connected device used by both adult and child or teen members of a household, if such advertising or marketing is directed to a profile of an adult user. (C) Rule of construction Nothing in subparagraph (A) shall be construed to prohibit an operator with actual knowledge or an operator who should have known that a user is under the age of 18 from delivering advertising or marketing that is age-appropriate and intended for a child or teen audience, if the operator does not use any personal information other than whether the user is under the age of 18. (19) Educational agency or institution The term educational agency or institution means— (A) a State educational agency or a local educational agency (as such terms are defined in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801)); or (B) an institutional day or residential school, including a public school (including a charter school) or a private school, that provides elementary or secondary education, as determined under State law. (20) Knowledge The term knowledge means the operator has actual knowledge or should have known that a user is a child or teen.. (b) Online collection, use, disclosure, and deletion of personal information of children and teens Section 1303 of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6502) is amended— (1) by striking the heading and inserting the following: Online collection, use, disclosure, and deletion of personal information of children and teens.; (2) in subsection (a)— (A) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows: (1) In general It is unlawful for an operator of a website, online service, online application, or mobile application directed to children or for any operator of a website, online service, online application, or mobile application with actual knowledge or any operator of a website, online service, online application, or mobile application who should have known that a user is a child or teen to do any of the following: (A) Collect personal information from a child or teen in a manner that violates the regulations promulgated under subsection (b). (B) Collect, use, disclose to third parties, or maintain personal information of a child or teen for purposes of individual-specific advertising to children or teens (or to allow another person to collect, use, disclose, or maintain such information for such purpose); (C) Otherwise collect the personal information of a child or teen, except if the collection of the personal information is— (i) consistent with the context of a particular transaction or service or the relationship of the child or teen with the operator, including any collection necessary to fulfill a transaction or provide a product or service requested by the child or teen; or (ii) authorized or required by Federal law (including a regulation promulgated under subsection (b)) or State law. (D) Store or transfer the personal information of a child or teen outside of the United States, unless the operator provides direct notice to a parent of the child (in the case of a child) or to the teen (in the case of a teen) of such storage or transfer. (E) Retain the personal information of a child or teen for longer than is reasonably necessary to fulfill a transaction or provide a service requested by the child or teen, except as authorized or required by Federal or State law.; and (B) in paragraph (2)— (i) in the heading, by striking parent and inserting parent or teen; (ii) by striking Notwithstanding paragraph (1) and inserting Notwithstanding paragraph (1)(A); (iii) by striking of such a website or online service; and (iv) by striking subsection (b)(1)(B)(iii) to the parent of a child and inserting subsection (b)(1)(B)(iv) to a parent of a child or under subsection (b)(1)(C)(iv) to a teen; (3) in subsection (b)— (A) in paragraph (1)— (i) in subparagraph (A)— (I) in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking the operator of any website and all that follows through from a child and inserting an operator of a website, online service, online application, or mobile application directed to children or for any operator of a website, online service, online application, or mobile application with actual knowledge or any operator of a website, online service, online application, or mobile application who should have known that a user is a child or teen; (II) in clause (i)— (aa) by striking notice on the website and inserting clear and conspicuous notice on the website, service, or application; (bb) by inserting or teens after children; (cc) by striking, and the operator’s disclosure practices and inserting, the disclosure practices of the operator; and (dd) by striking; and and inserting, the rights and opportunities available to a parent of a child or teen under subparagraphs (B) and (C), and the procedures or mechanisms the operator uses to ensure that personal information is not collected from children or teens (except as permitted by the regulations promulgated under this subsection);; (III) in clause (ii)— (aa) by striking parental; (bb) by inserting or teens after children; (cc) by striking the semicolon at the end and inserting; and; and (IV) by inserting after clause (ii) the following new clause: (iii) to obtain verifiable consent from a parent of a child (in the case of a child) or from a teen (in the case of a teen) before using or disclosing personal information of the child or teen for any purpose that is a material change from the original purposes and disclosure practices specified to the parent of the child or the teen under clause (i);; (ii) in subparagraph (B)— (I) in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking that website or online service and inserting the operator; (II) in clause (i), by striking that operator and inserting the operator, the method by which the operator obtains the personal information, and the purposes for which the operator collects, uses, discloses, and retains the personal information; (III) in clause (ii)— (aa) by inserting to delete personal information collected from the child or content or information submitted by the child to a website, online service, online application, or mobile application and after the opportunity at any time; and (bb) by striking; and and inserting a semicolon; (IV) by redesignating clause (iii) as clause (iv) and inserting after clause (ii) the following new clause: (iii) the opportunity to challenge the accuracy of the personal information and, if the parent of the child establishes the inaccuracy of the personal information, to have the inaccurate personal information corrected;; and (V) in clause (iv), as so redesignated, by inserting, if such information is available to the operator at the time the parent makes the request before the semicolon; (iii) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) and (D) as subparagraphs (D) and (E), respectively; (iv) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the following new subparagraph: (C) require the operator to provide, upon the request of a teen who has provided personal information to the operator, upon proper identification of the teen— (i) a description of the specific types of personal information collected from the teen by the operator, the method by which the operator obtained the personal information, and the purposes for which the operator collects, uses, discloses, and retains the personal information; (ii) the opportunity at any time to delete personal information collected from the teen or content or information submitted by the teen to a website, online service, online application, or mobile application and to refuse to permit the further use or maintenance in retrievable form, or online collection, of personal information from the teen by the operator; (iii) the opportunity to challenge the accuracy of the personal information and, if the teen establishes the inaccuracy of the personal information, to have the inaccurate personal information corrected; and (iv) a means that is reasonable under the circumstances for the teen to obtain any personal information collected from the teen, if such information is available to the operator at the time the teen makes the request;; (v) in subparagraph (D), as so redesignated— (I) by striking a child’s participation and inserting the participation of a child or teen; and (II) by inserting or teen after the child; and (vi) by amending subparagraph (E), as so redesignated, to read as follows: (E) require the operator— (i) to establish, implement, and maintain reasonable security practices to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and accessibility of personal information of children or teens collected by the operator; and (ii) to protect such personal information against unauthorized access.; (B) in paragraph (2)— (i) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking verifiable parental consent and inserting verifiable consent; (ii) in subparagraph (A)— (I) by inserting or teen after collected from a child; (II) by inserting or teen after request from the child; and (III) by inserting or teen or to contact another child or teen after to recontact the child; (iii) in subparagraph (B)— (I) by striking parent or child and inserting parent or teen; and (II) by striking parental consent each place the term appears and inserting verifiable consent; (iv) in subparagraph (C)— (I) in the matter preceding clause (i), by inserting or teen after child each place the term appears; (II) in clause (i)— (aa) by inserting or teen after child each place the term appears; and (bb) by inserting or teen, as applicable, after parent each place the term appears; and (III) in clause (ii)— (aa) by striking without notice to the parent and inserting without notice to the parent or teen, as applicable,; and (bb) by inserting or teen after child each place the term appears; and (v) in subparagraph (D)— (I) in the matter preceding clause (i), by inserting or teen after child each place the term appears; (II) in clause (ii), by inserting or teen after child; and (III) in the flush text following clause (iii)— (aa) by inserting or teen, as applicable, after parent each place the term appears; and (bb) by inserting or teen after child; (C) by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (4) and inserting after paragraph (2) the following new paragraph: (3) Application to operators acting under agreements with educational agencies or institutions The regulations may provide that verifiable consent under paragraph (1)(A)(ii) is not required for an operator that acts under a written agreement with an educational agency or institution that, at a minimum, requires the— (A) operator to— (i) limit the collection, use, and disclosure by the operator of the personal information from a child or teen to solely educational purposes and for no other commercial purposes; (ii) provide the educational agency or institution with a notice of the specific types of personal information the operator will collect from the child or teen, the method by which the operator will obtain the personal information, and the purposes for which the operator will collect, use, disclose, and retain the personal information; (iii) provide to the educational agency or institution a link regarding the disclosure practices of the operator described in subsection (b)(1)(A)(i); and (iv) provide the educational agency or institution, upon request, with a means to review the personal information collected from a child or teen, to prevent further use or maintenance or future collection of personal information from a child or teen, and to delete personal information collected from a child or teen or content or information submitted by a child or teen to website, online service, online application, or mobile application of the operator; (B) representative of the educational agency or institution to acknowledge and agree that the representative has authority to authorize the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information from children or teens on behalf of the educational agency or institution, along with such authorization, the name of the representative, and the title of the representative at the educational agency or institution; and (C) educational agency or institution to— (i) provide on a website of the educational agency or institution a notice that identifies the operator with which the educational agency or institution has entered into a written agreement under this subsection and provides the link described in subparagraph (A)(iii); (ii) upon request, provide the notice described in subparagraph (A)(ii) to a parent (in the case of a child) or a parent or teen (in the case of a teen); and (iii) upon the request of such a parent or teen, request the operator provide a means to review the personal information of such a child or teen and provide the parent or teen a means to review the personal information.; (D) by amending paragraph (4), as so redesignated, to read as follows: (4) Termination of service The regulations shall permit the operator of a website, online service, online application, or mobile application to terminate service provided to a child for whom a parent has refused or a teen who has refused (under the regulations promulgated under paragraphs (1)(B)(ii) and (1)(C)(ii), respectively) to permit the operator any further use or maintenance, in retrievable form or future online collection, of personal information from the child or teen.; and (E) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs: (5) Continuation of service The regulations shall prohibit an operator from discontinuing service provided to a child or teen on the basis of a request by a parent of the child or by the teen (under the regulations promulgated under subparagraph (B) or (C) of paragraph (1), respectively) to delete personal information collected from the child or teen, to the extent that the operator is capable of providing such service without such personal information. (6) Rule of construction A request to delete or correct personal information of a child or teen (under the regulations promulgated under subparagraph (B) or (C) of paragraph (1), respectively) may not be construed to do any of the following: (A) Limit the authority of a law enforcement agency to obtain any content or information from an operator pursuant to a lawfully executed warrant or an order of a court of competent jurisdiction. (B) Require an operator or third party to delete or correct information that— (i) any other provision of Federal or State law requires the operator or third party to maintain; or (ii) was submitted to the website, online service, online application, or mobile application of the operator by any person other than the user who is attempting to erase or otherwise eliminate the content or information, including content or information submitted by the user that was republished or resubmitted by another person. (C) Prohibit an operator from doing any of the following: (i) Retaining a record of the deletion request and the minimum information necessary for the purposes of ensuring compliance with a request made pursuant to subparagraph (B) or (C) of paragraph (1). (ii) Preventing, detecting, protecting against, or responding to any security incident, identity theft, or fraud, or reporting a person responsible for any such action. (iii) Protecting the integrity or security of a website, online service, online application or mobile application. (iv) Ensuring that any such personal information remains deleted. (7) Common verifiable consent mechanism (A) In general (i) Feasibility of mechanism The Commission, with notice and public comment, shall assess the feasibility of allowing operators the option to use a common verifiable consent mechanism that fully meets the requirements of this title. (ii) Requirements The feasibility assessment required by clause (i) shall consider whether a single operator could use a common verifiable consent mechanism to obtain the verifiable consent required by this title from a parent of a child or from a teen on behalf of multiple listed operators that provide a joint or related service. (B) Report Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this paragraph, the Commission shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives a report with the findings of the feasibility assessment required by subparagraph (A)(i). (C) Regulations If the Commission finds that the use of a common verifiable consent mechanism is feasible and would meet the requirements of this title, the Commission shall issue regulations to permit the use of a common verifiable consent mechanism in accordance with the findings outlined in such report.; and (4) in subsection (c), by striking a regulation prescribed under subsection (a) and inserting subparagraph (B), (C), (D), or (E) of subsection (a)(1) or of a regulation promulgated under subsection (b). (c) Safe harbors Section 1304 of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6503) is amended— (1) in subsection (b)(1), by inserting and teens after children; and (2) by adding at the end the following: (d) Publication (1) In general Except as provided in paragraph (2), the Commission shall publish on the internet website of the Commission any report or documentation required by regulation to be submitted to the Commission to carry out this title. (2) Restrictions on publication Notwithstanding the publication requirement described in paragraph (1), the restrictions described in sections 6(f) and section 21 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 46(f); 57b–2) applicable to the disclosure of information obtained by the Commission shall apply in the same manner to any publication under paragraph (1).. (d) Actions by States Section 1305 of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6504) is amended— (1) in subsection (a)(1)— (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by inserting section 1303(a)(1) or before any regulation; and (B) in subparagraph (B), by inserting section 1303(a)(1) or before the regulation; and (2) in subsection (d)— (A) by inserting section 1303(a)(1) or before any regulation; and (B) by inserting section 1303(a)(1) or before that regulation. (e) Administration and applicability of Act Section 1306 of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6505) is amended— (1) in subsection (b)— (A) in paragraph (1), by striking, in the case of and all that follows through the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; and inserting the following: by the appropriate Federal banking agency with respect to any insured depository institution (as such terms are defined in section 3 of such Act (12 U.S.C. 1813));; and (B) by striking paragraph (2); and (C) by redesignating paragraphs (3) through (6) as paragraphs (2) through (5), respectively; (2) in subsection (d)— (A) by striking a rule of the Commission under section 1303 and inserting section 1303(a)(1) or a regulation promulgated under section 1303(b); and (B) by striking such rule and inserting such section or such a regulation; and (3) by adding at the end the following new subsections: (f) Rule of construction on age verification Nothing in this title may be construed to require an operator to implement an age gating or age verification functionality on a website, online service, online application, or mobile application of the operator. (g) Additional requirement Any regulation promulgated under this title shall include a description and analysis of the impact of proposed and final rules on small entities under chapter 6 of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the Regulatory Flexibility Act)..

(a) Definitions Section 1302 of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6501) is amended— (1) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows: (1) Child The term child means an individual under the age of 14.; (2) by amending paragraph (2) to read as follows: (2) Operator The term operator — (A) means any person— (i) who, for commercial purposes in interstate or foreign commerce, operates or provides a website on the internet, an online service, an online application, or a mobile application; and (ii) who— (I) collects or maintains, either directly or through a service provider, personal information from or about the users of that website, service, or application; (II) allows another person to collect personal information directly from users of that website, service, or application (in which case, the operator is deemed to have collected the information); or (III) allows users of that website, service, or application to publicly disclose personal information (in which case, the operator is deemed to have collected the information); and (B) does not include any nonprofit entity that would otherwise be exempt from coverage under section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45).; (3) in paragraph (4)— (A) by amending subparagraph (A) to read as follows: (A) the release of personal information collected from a child or teen by an operator for any purpose, except where the personal information is provided to a person other than an operator who— (i) provides support for the internal operations of the website, online service, online application, or mobile application of the operator, excluding any activity relating to individual-specific advertising to children or teens; and (ii) does not disclose or use that personal information for any other purpose; and; and (B) in subparagraph (B)— (i) by inserting or teen after child each place the term appears; (ii) by striking website or online service and inserting website, online service, online application, or mobile application; and (iii) by striking actual knowledge and inserting knowledge; (4) by amending paragraph (8) to read as follows: (8) Personal information (A) In general The term personal information means individually identifiable information about an individual collected online, including— (i) a first and last name; (ii) a home or other physical address, including a street name and a name of a city or town; (iii) an e-mail address; (iv) a telephone number; (v) a Social Security number; (vi) any other identifier that the Commission determines permits the physical or online contacting of a specific individual; (vii) a persistent identifier that can be used to recognize a specific child or teen over time and across different websites, online services, online applications, or mobile applications, that— (I) includes— (aa) a customer number held in a cookie; (bb) an Internet Protocol (IP) address; (cc) a processor or device serial number; and (dd) a unique device identifier; and (II) excludes an identifier that is used by an operator solely for providing support for the internal operations of the website, online service, online application, or mobile application; (viii) a photograph, video, or audio file that contains the image or voice of a specific child or teen; (ix) geolocation information; (x) information generated from the measurement or technological processing of an the biological, physical, or physiological characteristics of an individual that is used to identify an individual, including— (I) fingerprints; (II) voice prints; (III) iris or retina imagery scans; (IV) facial templates; (V) deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) information; and (VI) gait; and (xi) information linked or reasonably linkable to a child or teen or a parent of a child or teen (including any unique identifier) that an operator collects online from the child or teen and combines with an identifier described in this subparagraph. (B) Exclusion The term personal information does not include an audio file that contains the voice of a child or teen if the operator— (i) does not request information via voice that would otherwise be considered personal information under this paragraph; (ii) provides clear notice of its collection and use of the audio file and its deletion policy in its privacy policy; (iii) only uses the voice contained in the audio file as a replacement for written words to perform a task or otherwise engage with a website, online service, online application, or mobile application, including by performing a search and fulfilling a verbal instruction or request; (iv) only maintains the audio file during the period necessary to complete the relevant task or engagement; (v) does not make any other use of the audio file during such period; and (vi) deletes the audio file at the end of such period. (C) Support for the internal operations of a website, online service, online application, or mobile application (i) In general For purposes of subparagraph (A)(vii), the term support for the internal operations of a website, online service, online application, or mobile application means the activities necessary to such website, service, or application to— (I) maintain or analyze functioning; (II) perform network communications; (III) authenticate users; (IV) personalize content; (V) serve contextual advertising to users (if any persistent identifier is only used as necessary for technical purposes to serve the contextual advertisement or cap the frequency of contextual advertising; (VI) protect the security or integrity of the user, website, online service, online application, or mobile application; (VII) ensure legal or regulatory compliance, or (VIII) fulfill a request of a child or teen under subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of section 1303(b)(2). (ii) Condition Except as specifically permitted under clause (i), information collected through the activities described in clause (i) may not be used or disclosed to contact a specific individual (including through individual-specific advertising to children or teens), to amass a profile on a specific individual, in connection with processes that encourage or prompt use of a website or online service, or for any other purpose.; (5) by amending paragraph (9) to read as follows: (9) Verifiable consent The term verifiable consent means any reasonable effort (taking into consideration available technology) by an operator, including a request for authorization for future collection, use, and disclosure described in the notice, to ensure that a parent of a child (in the case of a child) or a teen (in the case of a teen)— (A) receives direct notice of the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure practices of the operator with respect to personal information; and (B) before the personal information of the child or teen is collected, freely and unambiguously authorizes— (i) the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure, as applicable, of the personal information; and (ii) any subsequent use of the personal information.; (6) in paragraph (10)— (A) in the heading, by striking Website or online service directed to children and inserting Website, online service, online application, or mobile application directed to children; (B) in subparagraph (A)— (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking website or online service directed to children and inserting website, online service, online application, or mobile application directed to children; (ii) in clause (i), by striking commercial website or online service and inserting website, online service, online application, or mobile application; and (iii) in clause (ii), by striking commercial website or online service and inserting website, online service, online application, or mobile application; (C) in subparagraph (B), by striking commercial website or online service each place the term appears and inserting website, online service, online application, or mobile application; and (D) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: (C) Rule of construction In considering whether a website, online service, online application, or mobile application, or portion thereof, is directed to children, the Commission shall apply a totality of circumstances test and will also consider competent and reliable empirical evidence regarding audience composition and evidence regarding the intended audience of the website, online service, online application, or mobile application.; and (7) by adding at the end the following: (13) Connected device The term connected device means a device that is capable of connecting to the internet, directly or indirectly, or to another connected device. (14) Online application The term online application — (A) means an internet-connected software program; and (B) includes a service or application offered via a connected device. (15) Mobile application The term mobile application — (A) means a software program that runs on the operating system of— (i) a cellular telephone; (ii) a tablet computer; or (iii) a similar portable computing device that transmits data over a wireless connection; and (B) includes a service or application offered via a connected device. (16) Geolocation information The term geolocation information means information sufficient to identify a street name and name of a city or town. (17) Teen The term teen means an individual who has attained the age of 14 and is under the age of 18. (18) Individual-specific advertising to children or teens (A) In general The term individual-specific advertising to children or teens means advertising or any other effort to market a product or service that is directed to a specific child or teen or a connected device that is linked or reasonably linkable to a child or teen based on— (i) personal information of— (I) the child or teen; or (II) a group of children or teens who are similar in sex, age, household income level, race, or ethnicity to the specific child or teen to whom the product or service is marketed; (ii) profiling of such child or teen or group of children or teens; or (iii) a unique identifier of such connected device. (B) Exclusions The term individual-specific advertising to children or teens shall not include— (i) advertising or marketing to an individual or to a device of an individual in response to a specific request by the individual for information or feedback, such as a search query by a child or teen; (ii) contextual advertising, including if an advertisement is displayed based on the content of the website, online service, online application, mobile application, or connected device on which the advertisement appears and does not vary based on personal information of an individual who views the advertisement; (iii) processing personal information solely for measuring or reporting advertising or content performance, reach, or frequency, including independent measurement; or (iv) advertising or marketing directed to a connected device used by both adult and child or teen members of a household, if such advertising or marketing is directed to a profile of an adult user. (C) Rule of construction Nothing in subparagraph (A) shall be construed to prohibit an operator with actual knowledge or an operator who should have known that a user is under the age of 18 from delivering advertising or marketing that is age-appropriate and intended for a child or teen audience, if the operator does not use any personal information other than whether the user is under the age of 18. (19) Educational agency or institution The term educational agency or institution means— (A) a State educational agency or a local educational agency (as such terms are defined in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801)); or (B) an institutional day or residential school, including a public school (including a charter school) or a private school, that provides elementary or secondary education, as determined under State law. (20) Knowledge The term knowledge means the operator has actual knowledge or should have known that a user is a child or teen.. (b) Online collection, use, disclosure, and deletion of personal information of children and teens Section 1303 of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6502) is amended— (1) by striking the heading and inserting the following: Online collection, use, disclosure, and deletion of personal information of children and teens.; (2) in subsection (a)— (A) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows: (1) In general It is unlawful for an operator of a website, online service, online application, or mobile application directed to children or for any operator of a website, online service, online application, or mobile application with actual knowledge or any operator of a website, online service, online application, or mobile application who should have known that a user is a child or teen to do any of the following: (A) Collect personal information from a child or teen in a manner that violates the regulations promulgated under subsection (b). (B) Collect, use, disclose to third parties, or maintain personal information of a child or teen for purposes of individual-specific advertising to children or teens (or to allow another person to collect, use, disclose, or maintain such information for such purpose); (C) Otherwise collect the personal information of a child or teen, except if the collection of the personal information is— (i) consistent with the context of a particular transaction or service or the relationship of the child or teen with the operator, including any collection necessary to fulfill a transaction or provide a product or service requested by the child or teen; or (ii) authorized or required by Federal law (including a regulation promulgated under subsection (b)) or State law. (D) Store or transfer the personal information of a child or teen outside of the United States, unless the operator provides direct notice to a parent of the child (in the case of a child) or to the teen (in the case of a teen) of such storage or transfer. (E) Retain the personal information of a child or teen for longer than is reasonably necessary to fulfill a transaction or provide a service requested by the child or teen, except as authorized or required by Federal or State law.; and (B) in paragraph (2)— (i) in the heading, by striking parent and inserting parent or teen; (ii) by striking Notwithstanding paragraph (1) and inserting Notwithstanding paragraph (1)(A); (iii) by striking of such a website or online service; and (iv) by striking subsection (b)(1)(B)(iii) to the parent of a child and inserting subsection (b)(1)(B)(iv) to a parent of a child or under subsection (b)(1)(C)(iv) to a teen; (3) in subsection (b)— (A) in paragraph (1)— (i) in subparagraph (A)— (I) in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking the operator of any website and all that follows through from a child and inserting an operator of a website, online service, online application, or mobile application directed to children or for any operator of a website, online service, online application, or mobile application with actual knowledge or any operator of a website, online service, online application, or mobile application who should have known that a user is a child or teen; (II) in clause (i)— (aa) by striking notice on the website and inserting clear and conspicuous notice on the website, service, or application; (bb) by inserting or teens after children; (cc) by striking, and the operator’s disclosure practices and inserting, the disclosure practices of the operator; and (dd) by striking; and and inserting, the rights and opportunities available to a parent of a child or teen under subparagraphs (B) and (C), and the procedures or mechanisms the operator uses to ensure that personal information is not collected from children or teens (except as permitted by the regulations promulgated under this subsection);; (III) in clause (ii)— (aa) by striking parental; (bb) by inserting or teens after children; (cc) by striking the semicolon at the end and inserting; and; and (IV) by inserting after clause (ii) the following new clause: (iii) to obtain verifiable consent from a parent of a child (in the case of a child) or from a teen (in the case of a teen) before using or disclosing personal information of the child or teen for any purpose that is a material change from the original purposes and disclosure practices specified to the parent of the child or the teen under clause (i);; (ii) in subparagraph (B)— (I) in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking that website or online service and inserting the operator; (II) in clause (i), by striking that operator and inserting the operator, the method by which the operator obtains the personal information, and the purposes for which the operator collects, uses, discloses, and retains the personal information; (III) in clause (ii)— (aa) by inserting to delete personal information collected from the child or content or information submitted by the child to a website, online service, online application, or mobile application and after the opportunity at any time; and (bb) by striking; and and inserting a semicolon; (IV) by redesignating clause (iii) as clause (iv) and inserting after clause (ii) the following new clause: (iii) the opportunity to challenge the accuracy of the personal information and, if the parent of the child establishes the inaccuracy of the personal information, to have the inaccurate personal information corrected;; and (V) in clause (iv), as so redesignated, by inserting, if such information is available to the operator at the time the parent makes the request before the semicolon; (iii) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) and (D) as subparagraphs (D) and (E), respectively; (iv) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the following new subparagraph: (C) require the operator to provide, upon the request of a teen who has provided personal information to the operator, upon proper identification of the teen— (i) a description of the specific types of personal information collected from the teen by the operator, the method by which the operator obtained the personal information, and the purposes for which the operator collects, uses, discloses, and retains the personal information; (ii) the opportunity at any time to delete personal information collected from the teen or content or information submitted by the teen to a website, online service, online application, or mobile application and to refuse to permit the further use or maintenance in retrievable form, or online collection, of personal information from the teen by the operator; (iii) the opportunity to challenge the accuracy of the personal information and, if the teen establishes the inaccuracy of the personal information, to have the inaccurate personal information corrected; and (iv) a means that is reasonable under the circumstances for the teen to obtain any personal information collected from the teen, if such information is available to the operator at the time the teen makes the request;; (v) in subparagraph (D), as so redesignated— (I) by striking a child’s participation and inserting the participation of a child or teen; and (II) by inserting or teen after the child; and (vi) by amending subparagraph (E), as so redesignated, to read as follows: (E) require the operator— (i) to establish, implement, and maintain reasonable security practices to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and accessibility of personal information of children or teens collected by the operator; and (ii) to protect such personal information against unauthorized access.; (B) in paragraph (2)— (i) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking verifiable parental consent and inserting verifiable consent; (ii) in subparagraph (A)— (I) by inserting or teen after collected from a child; (II) by inserting or teen after request from the child; and (III) by inserting or teen or to contact another child or teen after to recontact the child; (iii) in subparagraph (B)— (I) by striking parent or child and inserting parent or teen; and (II) by striking parental consent each place the term appears and inserting verifiable consent; (iv) in subparagraph (C)— (I) in the matter preceding clause (i), by inserting or teen after child each place the term appears; (II) in clause (i)— (aa) by inserting or teen after child each place the term appears; and (bb) by inserting or teen, as applicable, after parent each place the term appears; and (III) in clause (ii)— (aa) by striking without notice to the parent and inserting without notice to the parent or teen, as applicable,; and (bb) by inserting or teen after child each place the term appears; and (v) in subparagraph (D)— (I) in the matter preceding clause (i), by inserting or teen after child each place the term appears; (II) in clause (ii), by inserting or teen after child; and (III) in the flush text following clause (iii)— (aa) by inserting or teen, as applicable, after parent each place the term appears; and (bb) by inserting or teen after child; (C) by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (4) and inserting after paragraph (2) the following new paragraph: (3) Application to operators acting under agreements with educational agencies or institutions The regulations may provide that verifiable consent under paragraph (1)(A)(ii) is not required for an operator that acts under a written agreement with an educational agency or institution that, at a minimum, requires the— (A) operator to— (i) limit the collection, use, and disclosure by the operator of the personal information from a child or teen to solely educational purposes and for no other commercial purposes; (ii) provide the educational agency or institution with a notice of the specific types of personal information the operator will collect from the child or teen, the method by which the operator will obtain the personal information, and the purposes for which the operator will collect, use, disclose, and retain the personal information; (iii) provide to the educational agency or institution a link regarding the disclosure practices of the operator described in subsection (b)(1)(A)(i); and (iv) provide the educational agency or institution, upon request, with a means to review the personal information collected from a child or teen, to prevent further use or maintenance or future collection of personal information from a child or teen, and to delete personal information collected from a child or teen or content or information submitted by a child or teen to website, online service, online application, or mobile application of the operator; (B) representative of the educational agency or institution to acknowledge and agree that the representative has authority to authorize the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information from children or teens on behalf of the educational agency or institution, along with such authorization, the name of the representative, and the title of the representative at the educational agency or institution; and (C) educational agency or institution to— (i) provide on a website of the educational agency or institution a notice that identifies the operator with which the educational agency or institution has entered into a written agreement under this subsection and provides the link described in subparagraph (A)(iii); (ii) upon request, provide the notice described in subparagraph (A)(ii) to a parent (in the case of a child) or a parent or teen (in the case of a teen); and (iii) upon the request of such a parent or teen, request the operator provide a means to review the personal information of such a child or teen and provide the parent or teen a means to review the personal information.; (D) by amending paragraph (4), as so redesignated, to read as follows: (4) Termination of service The regulations shall permit the operator of a website, online service, online application, or mobile application to terminate service provided to a child for whom a parent has refused or a teen who has refused (under the regulations promulgated under paragraphs (1)(B)(ii) and (1)(C)(ii), respectively) to permit the operator any further use or maintenance, in retrievable form or future online collection, of personal information from the child or teen.; and (E) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs: (5) Continuation of service The regulations shall prohibit an operator from discontinuing service provided to a child or teen on the basis of a request by a parent of the child or by the teen (under the regulations promulgated under subparagraph (B) or (C) of paragraph (1), respectively) to delete personal information collected from the child or teen, to the extent that the operator is capable of providing such service without such personal information. (6) Rule of construction A request to delete or correct personal information of a child or teen (under the regulations promulgated under subparagraph (B) or (C) of paragraph (1), respectively) may not be construed to do any of the following: (A) Limit the authority of a law enforcement agency to obtain any content or information from an operator pursuant to a lawfully executed warrant or an order of a court of competent jurisdiction. (B) Require an operator or third party to delete or correct information that— (i) any other provision of Federal or State law requires the operator or third party to maintain; or (ii) was submitted to the website, online service, online application, or mobile application of the operator by any person other than the user who is attempting to erase or otherwise eliminate the content or information, including content or information submitted by the user that was republished or resubmitted by another person. (C) Prohibit an operator from doing any of the following: (i) Retaining a record of the deletion request and the minimum information necessary for the purposes of ensuring compliance with a request made pursuant to subparagraph (B) or (C) of paragraph (1). (ii) Preventing, detecting, protecting against, or responding to any security incident, identity theft, or fraud, or reporting a person responsible for any such action. (iii) Protecting the integrity or security of a website, online service, online application or mobile application. (iv) Ensuring that any such personal information remains deleted. (7) Common verifiable consent mechanism (A) In general (i) Feasibility of mechanism The Commission, with notice and public comment, shall assess the feasibility of allowing operators the option to use a common verifiable consent mechanism that fully meets the requirements of this title. (ii) Requirements The feasibility assessment required by clause (i) shall consider whether a single operator could use a common verifiable consent mechanism to obtain the verifiable consent required by this title from a parent of a child or from a teen on behalf of multiple listed operators that provide a joint or related service. (B) Report Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this paragraph, the Commission shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives a report with the findings of the feasibility assessment required by subparagraph (A)(i). (C) Regulations If the Commission finds that the use of a common verifiable consent mechanism is feasible and would meet the requirements of this title, the Commission shall issue regulations to permit the use of a common verifiable consent mechanism in accordance with the findings outlined in such report.; and (4) in subsection (c), by striking a regulation prescribed under subsection (a) and inserting subparagraph (B), (C), (D), or (E) of subsection (a)(1) or of a regulation promulgated under subsection (b). (c) Safe harbors Section 1304 of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6503) is amended— (1) in subsection (b)(1), by inserting and teens after children; and (2) by adding at the end the following: (d) Publication (1) In general Except as provided in paragraph (2), the Commission shall publish on the internet website of the Commission any report or documentation required by regulation to be submitted to the Commission to carry out this title. (2) Restrictions on publication Notwithstanding the publication requirement described in paragraph (1), the restrictions described in sections 6(f) and section 21 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 46(f); 57b–2) applicable to the disclosure of information obtained by the Commission shall apply in the same manner to any publication under paragraph (1).. (d) Actions by States Section 1305 of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6504) is amended— (1) in subsection (a)(1)— (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by inserting section 1303(a)(1) or before any regulation; and (B) in subparagraph (B), by inserting section 1303(a)(1) or before the regulation; and (2) in subsection (d)— (A) by inserting section 1303(a)(1) or before any regulation; and (B) by inserting section 1303(a)(1) or before that regulation. (e) Administration and applicability of Act Section 1306 of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6505) is amended— (1) in subsection (b)— (A) in paragraph (1), by striking, in the case of and all that follows through the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; and inserting the following: by the appropriate Federal banking agency with respect to any insured depository institution (as such terms are defined in section 3 of such Act (12 U.S.C. 1813));; and (B) by striking paragraph (2); and (C) by redesignating paragraphs (3) through (6) as paragraphs (2) through (5), respectively; (2) in subsection (d)— (A) by striking a rule of the Commission under section 1303 and inserting section 1303(a)(1) or a regulation promulgated under section 1303(b); and (B) by striking such rule and inserting such section or such a regulation; and (3) by adding at the end the following new subsections: (f) Rule of construction on age verification Nothing in this title may be construed to require an operator to implement an age gating or age verification functionality on a website, online service, online application, or mobile application of the operator. (g) Additional requirement Any regulation promulgated under this title shall include a description and analysis of the impact of proposed and final rules on small entities under chapter 6 of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the Regulatory Flexibility Act)..