Twenty privacy watchdog groups filed a complaint today against YouTube with the Federal Trade Commission.
It's about privacy; in this case, kids' privacy:
"YouTube’s privacy policy discloses that it collects many types of personal information, including geolocation, unique device identifiers, mobile telephone numbers, and persistent identifiers used to recognize a user over time and across different websites or online services. YouTube collects this information from children under the age of 13, and uses it to target advertisements, without giving notice or obtaining advanced, verifiable parental consent as required by COPPA."
COPPA is the Child Online Privacy Protection Act, which limits how companies can collect data on children and requires parental consent.
You can read the complete FTC complaint against YouTube here.
Privacy: suddenly hit a tipping point
The Facebook data controversy was an apparent tipping point in the battle over how much privacy and control internet and social media users should have.
Apple's co-founder deactivated his Facebook page to make a point about privacy, Apple is issuing a special message about privacy with every software update, and CEO founder Mark Zuckerberg will testify before Congress on April 10th.
Now, there's the call for the FTC to act on YouTube.
The question with all of this talk, when it pops up, is how much action will follow?
