Washington, D.C. — The American Economic Liberties Project today issued the following statement on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s vote affirming a new policy statement prioritizing education technology in the enforcement of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

“With today’s vote, the FTC unanimously decided to protect the privacy and security of children and families across the country as more schools embrace digital learning and online education,” said Sarah Miller, Executive Director of the American Economic Liberties Project. “From Google collecting elementary students’ biometric data in Illinois to Amazon recording the voices of millions of children, there is a dire need for a full throated enforcement of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The FTC has forcefully declared that students should be able to do their schoolwork without surveillance from Big Tech and schools should not be extorted into sacrificing their students’ safety for access to education software.” 

For more information on how Big Tech violates the privacy of children across the country, see here. 

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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 The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.