Is this child depicted in the ad protected from personal privacy in India? The answer is a Big No. India is way to behind in child welfare laws leave aside privacy protection. But showing the way is President Obama of US who today signed a bill for sweeping changes into Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Though COPPA was implemented more than 20 years ago, it lacked sufficient teeth with respect the changing scenario of the Advertising world brought about by the introduction of cellphones, smart phones, tabs, social networking, online stores etc. The Law, which is to come into effect from July 2013 is aimed at preventing companies from exploiting online data about children under 13.
Using details of child's personal life such as their address, contact info, name of their friends and other valuable information the children might put out on their networking site or use it in their Internet activities is highly valuable to Ad companies
Now under COPPA information about the children can't be collected without a parents permission for all content including photos, videos and audio files containing a human image or voice.
In India a attempt was made to introduce some kind of privacy act under the initiative by Childline India Foundation, but the bill is yet to see any advancement.
In view of above bill passed by US maybe Indian Lawmakers can learn something.
Vijay Prabhu
