InfoBytes Blog
New Mexico Attorney General sues technology companies over COPPA violations regarding the collection of children’s personal data
On September 12, the New Mexico Attorney General announced the filing of a lawsuit against a group of technology companies for allegedly designing and marketing mobile gaming applications (apps) targeted towards children that contain illegal tracking software. The complaint asserts that the defendants’ practices violate both the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act, and pose the risk of data breaches and third-party access. Among other things, the complaint alleges the defendants’ data collection and sharing practices did not comply with COPPA’s specific notice and consent requirements, while the apps’ embedded software development kits allow the apps to communicate directly with the advertising companies that analyze, store, use, share, and sell the data to other third-parties to build “increasingly-detailed profiles of child users” in order to send highly-targeted advertising. The complaint seeks injunctive relief and nominal and punitive damages.