COPPA Regulations

I have today updated the new user screen, the change user details screen and our privacy policy to reflect our interpretation of the COPPA regulations by which we must abide if we wish to provide service to the USA.

Its a bit late, and for that we apologise, however, even though we are a bit late we were (perhaps luckily!) not in breach of the regulations anyway. Having said that, in order to clarify our position, the above changes have been made. Its an interesting reflection on the status of the internet that as UK citizens and as a UK company we must still abide by a law of the USA… How will this work in the future if we have residents from China accessing our sites, or Russia, or where-ever. Must we abide by their rules too? Presumably yes. What happens when they are in conflict? Who arbitrates for us? A tangly mess the Internet is forming up for itself here…

Please check the Privacy Policy which encompasses the Privacy Policy for ALL AtomIC sites (though there may be some links somewhere that reference the individual sites… If you come across one, please mail us at [email protected]). The most important change is the notice to parents and the notice to under 13’s.

I hope that the Privacy Policy explains everything clearly. If it doesn’t then please email me. I would urge EVERYONE using the AtomIC sites, but particularly those using DearDiary.Net – please do NOT give out your personal information to people in any case, whether you are under 13 or not. As has been discussed to death in the past, you do not know who is reading your diary and who can be trusted. The principle is simple, trust no-one. Reveal nothing. Write in as much detail as you like, but remember its a publicly available forum and as such you should keep your true (offline) identity to yourself.

As a footnote; The COPPA Helpline still never got back to me…

Please leave a comment here, or mail us if you have questions.

Steve.