Information Technology Acts
Christopher Owen
BIS/220

Information Technology Acts
Advancements in technology are made on a daily basis. With each new advancement available to society people find new ways to utilize it in their lives. One major change to is the availability of information on the lives of the users. Social networking, emailing, and access to the internet from just about anywhere permits enables others to the bits and pieces of everyone’s lives. Concerns regarding privacy arose from these advancements as well. The need to protect this vital information resulted in the development of several pieces of legislation, designed not only to protect personal information from being utilized incorrectly but to prevent information from being dispersed initially. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), passed in 1998, and the Controlling the Assault of Non-solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act, passed in 2003, are part of this attempt to protect information from the mass onslaught being performed by businesses and criminals alike.

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998
This act, normally referred to as COPPA, attempts to protect Minors under the age of 13 from any entity seeking their personal information. What this means is that companies that target children as a audience to conduct business must comply with several points brought forth in the legislation. These requirements range from ensuring to obtain parental consent for disclosure of information, to explaining why the information is being collected.
With advancements in access to the internet via cellular phones, computers at schools, tablets, and personal laptops children are susceptible to the overwhelming commercialization of the internet. Sites offering games that appeal to children’s interest fall under the scope of COPPA. Much of this information obtained from adults can be sold to companies to generate target audience lists, filling up email inboxes with spam or junk mail, as well as placing individuals on call lists for telemarketers. This act attempts to prevent the child’s information from being sold or even collected by requiring supervision of the parents or guardians.

Controlling the Assault of Non-solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003
Referred to as CAN-SPAM, this act attempts to limit that amount of SPAM, or unsolicited emails, received