By Richard van Staden ten Brink

Protecting children on the Internet

Dutch data protection law provides that the consent of a parent or legal guardian is required to collect personal data from children under 16. Until recently, this provision was rarely enforced. However, it appears that the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) is now actively targeting Web sites that collect children’s personal data.
On March 24, the DPA published two decisions regarding such Web sites. One decision concerned the site Jiggies.nl, where members could opt-in to receive commercial e-mail and get so-called “jiggies” in return. If enough “jiggies” were collected, members could exchange them for money. A game on the site—Jiggy Coco Banana—persuaded visitors to become members.

The DPA’s primary objection against the site was that it did not verify whether a new member was 16 or older and did not warn children less than 16 years of age to ask their parents for consent. After a forensic investigation and several discussions between the DPA and the Web site owner, the owner modified the site to prevent children from becoming members.

The second site that came under DPA scrutiny was a social network called zikle.nl. The Web site owners had indicated in a magazine interview that the site was targeted at 10- to 15-year old children. A forensic investigation of the site showed that it did not verify whether a new member was 16 or older and did not warn children under 16 to ask their parents for consent. The investigation also showed that 71.6 percent of the members were younger than 16. After several discussions with the DPA, the Web site owner modified the site.

Now, on the membership application form children less than 16 years of age must declare that their parents have given them permission to become a member. Apparently, the DPA did not require the owners of zikle.nl to verify the parent’s consent in any way.

Richard van Staden ten Brink is advocaat at De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek. He may be reached at richard.vanstadentenbrink@debrauw.com.