United States v. Artist Arena

Artist Arena, LLC (defendant) operated websites for fans of recording artists, including Rihanna, Demi Lovato, Justin Bieber, and Selena Gomez. The sites for each of these four recording artists operated slightly differently, but they each collected personal data from children under the age of 13 without notifying the children’s parents or getting a parent’s consent to do so. For example, a child under 13 could provide personal data in order to subscribe to a free digital newsletter about Rihanna without any parental involvement. In addition, if a child under 13 tried to register for some of the paid fan clubs, the child had to enter personal data that included name, birthdate, email address, and often geographic-location data. After the child entered this personal information, Artist Arena sometimes, but not always, sent the child’s parent an email. The parental email, if sent, said that unless the parents were willing to let their child join the fan club, the parents did not need to do anything. However, the email did not (1) tell the parents that Artist Arena had already collected some of the child’s personal information or (2) disclose any information about Artist Arena’s privacy or information-collection policies, such as Artist Arena’s policy of keeping the personal data it had already collected from the child if the parents did nothing in response to the email. The attorney general of the United States (plaintiff) sued Artist Arena for (1) violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) by collecting children’s personal data without sufficient notice or consent and (2) violating § 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act by making unfair or deceptive statements in the emails to the parents.