United States v. RockYou, Inc.
United States District Court for the Northern District of California
Case No. CV 12-1487 (2012)
- Written by Tammy Boggs, JD
Facts
RockYou, Inc. (defendant) operated a website offering widget programs. The website was intended for a general audience but attracted a significant number of children. RockYou’s online privacy policy stated that children’s privacy was especially important to RockYou and for that reason, RockYou did not knowingly collect or maintain the information of children under the age of 13. The privacy policy further stated that RockYou would take steps to delete any children’s information of which it became aware. Although the website could be used without registration, users could also register to save content that they had uploaded. During the registration process, RockYou collected various kinds of user information, including an email address, password, birth year, gender, zip code, and country. RockYou collected personal information from about 179,000 children under the age of 13. Registered children also sometimes created a personal profile and uploaded photographs to the site. Parents were not directly notified prior to collection of their children’s information, and information was collected without verifiable parental consent. The United States (plaintiff) initiated a civil action against RockYou for engaging in unfair business practices by violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). RockYou agreed to entry of a consent decree.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning ()
What to do next…
Here's why 811,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
