2011-13357. Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Extension

AGENCY:

Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or “Commission”).

ACTION:

Notice and request for comment.

SUMMARY:

The information collection requirements described below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (“PRA”). The FTC is seeking public comments on its proposal to extend through August 31, 2014, the current PRA clearance for information collection requirements contained in the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule (“COPPA Rule”). That clearance expires on August 31, 2011.

DATES:

Comments must be received on or before June 30, 2011.

ADDRESSES:

Interested parties may file a comment online or on paper, by following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write “COPPA Rule: Paperwork Comment, FTC File No. P114504” on your comment, and file your comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/​ftc/​coppapra2,, by following the instructions on the Web-based form. If you prefer to file your comment on paper, mail or deliver your comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Room H-113 (Annex J), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Requests for copies of the collection of information and supporting documentation should be addressed to Mamie Kresses, Attorney, Division of Advertising Practices, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Mail Drop NJ-3212, Washington, DC 20580, [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule, 16 CFR part 312.

OMB Control Number: 3084-0117.

Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.

Abstract: The COPPA Rule contains certain statutorily-required notice requirements that apply to operators of any Web site or online service directed to children, and operators of any Web site or online service with actual knowledge of collecting personal information from children. Covered operators must: Provide online notice and direct notice to parents of how they collect, use, and disclose children's personal information; obtain the prior consent of the child's parent in order to engage in such collection, use, and disclosure, with limited exceptions; provide reasonable means for the parent to obtain access to the information and to direct its deletion; and, establish procedures that protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of personal information collected from children.

On February 9, 2011, the Commission sought comment on the information collection requirements associated with the COPPA Rule. 76 FR 7211. No comments were received. Pursuant to the OMB regulations, 5 CFR part 1320, that implement the PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., the FTC is providing this second opportunity for public comment while seeking OMB approval to renew the pre-existing clearance for the Rule.

Estimated Annual Burden: 6,100 hours (6,000 hours for disclosure requirements + 100 hours for safe harbor participants' voluntary reporting requirements).

Likely Respondents, Estimated Number of Respondents, Estimated Average Burden per Respondent:

(a) Disclosures—Operators of covered Web sites and online services, 60 hours/operator for 100 new operators annually;

(b) Reporting—Voluntary safe harbor program applicants—100 hours annualized for an estimated single applicant during the prospective 3-year PRA clearance period.

Frequency of Response: Once.

Operators have to maintain the required notice on their Web sites and provide individual direct notices to parents of children newly engaging or registering online at operators' Web sites and online services.

Total Annual Labor Cost: $816,000.^[1]

Total Annual Capital or Other Non-Labor Cost: Minimal.

Request for Comment: You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to consider your comment, we must receive it on or before June 30, 2011. Write “COPPA Rule: Paperwork Comment, FTC File No. P114504” on your comment. Your comment—including your name and your state—will be placed on the public record of this proceeding, including, to the extent practicable, on the public Commission Web site, at http://www.ftc.gov/​os/​publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of discretion, the Commission tries to remove individuals' home contact information from comments before placing them on the Commission Web site.

Because your comment will be made public, you are solely responsible for making sure that your comment doesn't include any sensitive personal information, like anyone's Social Security number, date of birth, driver's license number or other state identification number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely responsible for making sure that your comment doesn't include any sensitive health information, like medical records or other individually identifiable health information. In addition, don't include any “[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information which is obtained from any person and which is privileged or confidential,” as provided in Section 6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 4.10(a)(2). In particular, don't include competitively sensitive information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas, patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.

If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).^[2] Your comment will be kept confidential only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the public interest.

Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/​ftc/​coppapra2,, by following the instructions on the Web-based form. If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov/​#!home,, you also may file a comment through that Web site.

If you file your comment on paper, write “COPPA Rule: Paperwork Comment, FTC File No. P114504” on your comment and on the envelope, and mail or deliver it to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Room H-113 (Annex J), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580. If possible, submit your paper comment to the Commission by courier or overnight service.

Visit the Commission Web site at http://www.ftc.gov to read this Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws that the Commission administers permit the collection of public comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that it receives on or before June 30, 2011. You can find more information, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in the Commission's privacy policy, at http://www.ftc.gov/​ftc/​privacy.shtm.

Comments on the information collection requirements subject to review under the PRA should additionally be submitted to OMB. If sent by U.S. mail, they should be addressed to Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for the Federal Trade Commission, New Executive Office Building, Docket Library, Room 10102, 725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503. Comments sent to OMB by U.S. postal mail, however, are subject to delays due to heightened security precautions. Thus, comments instead should be sent by facsimile to [phone].

Willard K. Tom,

General Counsel.

Footnotes

1.  See 76 FR at 7212-7213 for the details and calculations underlying this total.

2.  In particular, the written request for confidential treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).