Last year, Internet Safety Labs (ISL) observed that CoolMathGames.com website (from CoolMath.com, LLC [referred to as “Cool Math”], owned by Sandbox Group) contained location-based behavioral advertisements. Using the Federal Trade Commission’s guidelines on a “child-directed” website, ISL believes CoolMathGames.com may fall under the protections afforded by the US Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA).
Any visit to a website, app download, purchase of a digital service, or use of new software involves legal policies. People typically encounter both a privacy policy and Terms of Use or Terms of Service (TOS/TOU) policy. But do they understand what functions these two types of policies serve? It seems they don’t.
This is a story of a politician who cried “hacker” after a reporter informed a state agency that sensitive information was embedded in their website’s HTML source code. While we wish this was a joke or fictional story it, unfortunately, is not. This real-world example underscores the notion that there is a real need for Policymakers to understand how technology works and behaves.
We enthusiastically welcome Dr. Karina Alexanyan to the Board of Directors. This election marks the first Me-Board Member for the Me2B Alliance.
Many policymakers have been interested in protecting children’s privacy and expanding COPPA. Recently, Me2BA alongside a coalition of advocacy groups endorsed Representative Castor’s Kids PRIVCY ACT. We’re proud to support this bill, but we urge members in Congress to address non-profit carve outs in data privacy laws.
We’re pleased to announce that the Me2B Alliance has fully approved our Membership Operating Procedures. This significant milestone for the organization defines the governance, organization, and operating rules for the Me2B Alliance Membership activities, projects, and Working Groups.
A new report from our friends at Fairplay, Reset Australia and Global Action Plan revealed how Facebook’s recent ad policy changes are no more than a bait and switch because now instead of marketers targeting children, Facebook has algorithms do the dirty work instead.
Me2BA and a coalition of other advocacy groups signed on to urge Facebook/Meta to end all surveillance advertising to adolescents.
SAN DIEGO, Nov. 23, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Me2B Alliance, a non-profit standards and advocacy organization focused on safe and respectful technology, today announced that it has been awarded a $100,000 grant by the Internet Society Foundation. The foundation funds initiatives that strengthen the Internet in function and reach so that it can effectively serve all people.
As we move into the time of year when we highlight the celebration and sharing of gratitude, Me2B Alliance would like to express our gratitude to the Internet Society Foundation. The Internet Society Foundation recently granted the Me2B Alliance $100,000 to complete its “U.S. EdTech Industry Benchmark: Data Sharing in Primary & Secondary School Mobile Utility Apps.” The benchmark will build on previous findings about harmful data sharing practices by uncovering how sensitive student information is being treated by school utility apps in grades pre-k through 12 in schools across the nation.
As we’ve been performing independent product audits over the past year and a half, we received some push-back on our passing criteria related to the automatic translation of IP address to geographic location. Vendors felt that automatically calculating the user’s geographical location was, in fact, a benefit. However, in our specification, that behavior will receive a failing score. At an impasse, we decided to conduct some validation testing with Me-s.
SAN DIEGO, Nov. 16, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Me2B Alliance, a non-profit standards and advocacy organization focused on safe and respectful technology, today published a Spotlight Report which illustrates the significance of permission, relevance, and control when it comes to location tracking in websites and mobile apps. According to Me2BA’s research, 55% of people say it is “creepy” when websites know their location when they are first opened. In total, 81% of respondents used at least one negative term, including creepy, bad, annoying, scary, and confusing, to describe location tracking in websites. 68% used those same negative terms to describe location tracking in mobile apps.
The California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (“CPRA”) established the California Privacy Protection Agency (“CPPA”). The CPPA has full administrative power and authority to implement the CCPA and CPRA, which basically means that the CPPA will be in charge of updating regulations and adopting new regulations, while enforcement of these regulations will be done by both the CPPA and the Attorney General’s office.
SAN DIEGO, Nov. 08, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Me2B Alliance, a non-profit standards organization which advocates for safe and respectful technology, today announced the publication of its first official recommendation: “The Attributes for Safe and Respectful Me2B Commitments.” The recommendation outlines baseline best practices to ensure that safe interactions, or commitments, are taking place on websites and mobile applications. Some examples of these commitments include creating an account online, signing up for newsletters, or agreeing to accept cookies while browsing a website.