312.4—Notice.
(a) General principles of notice.
All notices under §§ 312.3(a) and 312.5 must be clearly and understandably written, be complete, and must contain no unrelated, confusing, or contradictory materials.
(b) Notice on the website or online service.
Under § 312.3(a), an operator of a website or online service directed to children must post a link to a notice of its information practices with regard to children on the home page of its website or online service and at each area on the website or online service where personal information is collected from children. An operator of a general audience website or online service that has a separate children's area or site must post a link to a notice of its information practices with regard to children on the home page of the children's area.
(1) Placement of the notice.
(i)
The link to the notice must be clearly labeled as a notice of the website or online service's information practices with regard to children;
(ii)
The link to the notice must be placed in a clear and prominent place and manner on the home page of the website or online service; and
(iii)
The link to the notice must be placed in a clear and prominent place and manner at each area on the website or online service where children directly provide, or are asked to provide, personal information, and in close proximity to the requests for information in each such area.
(2) Content of the notice.
To be complete, the notice of the website or online service's information practices must state the following:
(i)
The name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address of all operators collecting or maintaining personal information from children through the website or online service. Provided that: the operators of a website or online service may list the name, address, phone number, and e-mail address of one operator who will respond to all inquiries from parents concerning the operators' privacy policies and use of children's information, as long as the names of all the operators collecting or maintaining personal information from children through the website or online service are also listed in the notice;
(ii)
The types of personal information collected from children and whether the personal information is collected directly or passively;
(iii)
How such personal information is or may be used by the operator(s), including but not limited to fulfillment of a requested transaction, recordkeeping, marketing back to the child, or making it publicly available through a chat room or by other means;
(iv)
Whether personal information is disclosed to third parties, and if so, the types of business in which such third parties are engaged, and the general purposes for which such information is used; whether those third parties have agreed to maintain the confidentiality, security, and integrity of the personal information they obtain from the operator; and that the parent has the option to consent to the collection and use of their child's personal information without consenting to the disclosure of that information to third parties;
(v)
That the operator is prohibited from conditioning a child's participation in an activity on the child's disclosing more personal information than is reasonably necessary to participate in such activity; and
(vi)
That the parent can review and have deleted the child's personal information, and refuse to permit further collection or use of the child's information, and state the procedures for doing so.
(c) Notice to a parent.
Under § 312.5, an operator must make reasonable efforts, taking into account available technology, to ensure that a parent of a child receives notice of the operator's practices with regard to the collection, use, and/or disclosure of the child's personal information, including notice of any material change in the collection, use, and/or disclosure practices to which the parent has previously consented.
(ii)
In the case of a notice to obtain verifiable parental consent under § 312.5(a), the notice must also state that the parent's consent is required for the collection, use, and/or disclosure of such information, and state the means by which the parent can provide verifiable consent to the collection of information.
(iii)
In the case of a notice under the exception in § 312.5(c)(3), the notice must also state the following:
(A)
That the operator has collected the child's e-mail address or other online contact information to respond to the child's request for information and that the requested information will require more than one contact with the child;
(B)
That the parent may refuse to permit further contact with the child and require the deletion of the information, and how the parent can do so; and
(C)
That if the parent fails to respond to the notice, the operator may use the information for the purpose(s) stated in the notice.
(iv)
In the case of a notice under the exception in § 312.5(c)(4), the notice must also state the following:
(A)
That the operator has collected the child's name and e-mail address or other online contact information to protect the safety of the child participating on the website or online service;
(B)
That the parent may refuse to permit the use of the information and require the deletion of the information, and how the parent can do so; and
(C)
That if the parent fails to respond to the notice, the operator may use the information for the purpose stated in the notice.