You probably know about the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)'s acclaimed age and content ratings for video games, and we hope you've followed our posts about the work ESRB Privacy Certified does to ensure that our members, mostly companies in the video game and toy industries, adopt and implement lawful, responsible, and transparent privacy practices. But you may not know about the Advertising Review Council (ARC) - "a/k/a, the video game industry’s best kept secret." ARC plays a critical role in ESRB's self-regulatory mission by implementing, administering, and enforcing industry-adopted advertising guidelines to ensure that publishers market their physical products responsibly -- especially when it comes to children. For more about ARC, check out this blog by ESRB President Patricia Vance.
ESRB Privacy Certified
Computer Games
We’re a leading online privacy compliance and certification program, and an FTC-approved COPPA Safe Harbor.
About us
ESRB Privacy Certified is a leading comprehensive online privacy compliance and certification program, and an FTC-approved Safe Harbor under the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and the Federal Trade Commission's COPPA Rule. We work largely with video game and toy companies around the world to ensure that our members develop and implement responsible and transparent privacy practices that reflect developments in law, technology, and global best practices.
- Website
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http://www.esrb.org/privacy/
External link for ESRB Privacy Certified
- Industry
- Computer Games
- Company size
- 11-50 employees
- Headquarters
- USA
- Founded
- 2001
- Specialties
- Privacy, Privacy Compliance, Children Online, Data Protection, Data security, COPPA, Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, GDPR, General Data Protection Regulation, CCPA, CPRA, Age Appropriate Design Code, U.K. Children's Code, Irish Fundamentals, Federal Trade Commission, and FTC
Updates
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Our SVP, Stacy Feuer, will be speaking at the Video Game Bar Association's 12th Annual Summit next week on a panel about protecting the privacy and safety of kids and teens in video games. Check out her post, below, for more info.
Senior Vice President at ESRB Privacy Certified, a leading compliance and certification program for video game and toy companies | Former FTC manager with extensive privacy, advertising, and international experience
It's almost June, gulp! Which means that Shanna Pearce of Epic Games and I will be heading to LA next week for the Video Game Bar Association's Annual Summit to talk about the high-stakes challenges video game companies face in protecting the privacy and safety of their child and teen players. Looking forward to the conversation and to catching up with many VGBA colleagues. Info below.
Register Here – 12th VGBA Summit on Game Law & Business Affairs at Loyola Law School Los Angeles – Loyola Law School
tickettailor.com
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During last week’s total solar eclipse, the sun, moon, and earth aligned perfectly in what’s known as syzygy. Will we see a similar alignment in favor a comprehensive federal privacy law? Read our SVP Stacy Feuer’s analysis of the proposed American Privacy Rights Act of 2024 (APRA) and what it could mean from a privacy compliance and certification perspective. https://bit.ly/4de0L2q #privacy #APRA
Proposed American Privacy Rights Act (APRA) signals new phase of privacy regulation: ESRB Privacy Certified welcomes COPPA-style compliance mechanisms
esrb.org
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We had a great week in DC at IAPP - International Association of Privacy Professionals #GPS24. We attended many interesting (and useful) talks and panels, met up with program members and friends, and collected some great swag. Check out the pics from Stacy’s workshop on kids’and teens’ privacy, the closing session main stage area, and our best “gift” - a complementary copy of Kashmir Hill’s new book inscribed to ESRB Privacy Certified (with the corrected video game-inspired title).
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We are excited to begin our new partnership with Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz to help video game industry members comply with privacy laws and best practices.
Frankfurt Kurnit is pleased to announce that its Interactive Entertainment and Data Strategy, Privacy & Security Groups are partnering with the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) to enhance cooperation between the ESRB Privacy Certified program and the firm. “ESRB’s Privacy Certified Program plays an important role in helping to ensure that video game industry members that opt into the program are employing responsible data collection practices,” said Data Strategy, Privacy & Security Group Chair Daniel M. Goldberg. “Our firm and many of our clients have worked with ESRB for years, and we are thrilled to formalize our longstanding relationship with the ESRB Privacy Certified program today.” https://lnkd.in/eCUT9_xW #videogames #videogameslaw #datacollection #privacy
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VPC Update: We are disappointed that, on Friday afternoon, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) declined to either issue a substantive decision or delay further ruling on our pending application for authorization of Privacy-Protective Facial Age Estimation as a verifiable parental consent method under the COPPA Rule. We filed the application, together with Yoti and Kids Web Services, in June 2023. The Commission twice extended its decision on the application beyond the 120-day period set forth in the COPPA Rule. The Commission’s letter denying the application indicates that the FTC believes it would be helpful to be able to review, as part of its decision-making process, a report about facial age estimation models that is anticipated to be released by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in April. Unfortunately, instead of accommodating our request to stay its decision for another 90 days to give the Commission sufficient time for consideration of the NIST report, the FTC declined the application without prejudice. In light of the FTC’s statements in its recent COPPA Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (and elsewhere) welcoming innovation in VPC methods, we remain hopeful that facial age estimation and other innovative technologies will be considered COPPA-compliant when used to obtain verifiable parental consent in the near future.
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Next week, our SVP Stacy Feuer will join Hogan Lovells' Sophie Baum, Epic Games’ Shanna Pearce, and the Future of Privacy Forum’s Bailey Sanchez and Jim Siegl, CIPT, CIPM for an in-depth dive into “The State of Play: Compliance with Kids and Teens Privacy Law” during a workshop at #IAPP’s Global Privacy Summit. Our team — Courtney C., Peter Dietrich, Majied Matthews jr., Preston Taylor and Meghan Ventura — will attend #GPS24, too, keeping us up to date with the latest privacy developments and emerging trends. We hope to see you in DC!
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Sharing some great advice on keeping your kids - and their personal information - safe by ESRB President Patricia Vance on this #SaferInternetDay!
We always say that the key to keeping your kids safe when playing games online is to nurture an ongoing, judgement-free conversation. Safer Internet Day acts as a great, annual reminder for parents to re-engage with the whole family to decide if any adjustments need to be made to household rules around online video game play. Our new blog has tips and tricks to help parents establish (and tweak!) household rules around online safety. From setting parental controls, to managing friends lists, check out our blog to stay involved and gain some peace of mind around your kids’ online play. https://bit.ly/3HQH2am
Put Safety First this Safer Internet Day
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As a longstanding FTC-authorized COPPA Safe Harbor program, we follow the agency’s COPPA work closely. We’ve delved into the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to understand what it will mean for our member video game and toy companies – and for the millions of kids and teens (and their parents) that play games. Read our summary of the most important provisions from the 164-page NRPM document here: https://bit.ly/3vpMnmi. #coppa #privacy
Probing the FTC���s COPPA Proposal: Updates to Kids’ Privacy Rule Follows Agency’s Focus on Technological Changes -
esrb.org
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On Tuesday, we predicted that “the year ahead is the make-or-break time for the FTC to issue proposed new rules on kids’ (and teens’) privacy.” On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission proved us right on substance and wrong on timing. Yesterday -- more than four years after it kicked off its review of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (#COPPA Rule) in 2019 – the FTC proposed significant changes to the COPPA Rule that would “place new restrictions on the use and disclosure of children’s personal information and further limit the ability of companies to condition access to services on monetizing children’s data.” The details are in the proposed text of the 164-page Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which will shortly be published in the Federal Register. Guess we now have our “vacation reading” teed up! Happy Holidays! We'll be back with some analysis and thoughts on the NPRM in the New Year. https://lnkd.in/eW3UNBfa
FTC Proposes Strengthening Children’s Privacy Rule to Further Limit Companies’ Ability to Monetize Children’s Data
ftc.gov