Viacom, Mattel, Hasbro Agree to Stop Online Child Tracker
- Agreements stem from two-year probe into children’s websites
- 1998 federal law bars collection of kids’ online data
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Should companies that make some of the most popular toys and cartoons in the U.S. be tracking the online habits of kids under 13 years old? New York’s top cop says no, obviously not.
The state’s attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, said on Tuesday that he reached settlements with four companies including Viacom Inc. and Mattel Inc. for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by collecting such data. The companies allowed third-party vendors to collect and use the personal information without parental approval, Schneiderman said.