FTC celebrates COPPA's second birthday.(Federal Trade Commission, Children's Online Privacy Protection Act)(Brief Article)

It's the FTC's Children's Online Privacy Protection (COPPA) Rule's second birthday -- and to celebrate the FTC announced that Ohio Art Co., maker of the Etch-A-Sketch drawing toy, frosted the cake with $35,000 to settle FTC allegations that its Etch-ASketch Web site violated the Rule by collecting kids' personal information sans parental consent.

COPPA's second birthday party did not stop with the agency bringing its sixth COPPA enforcement case. The agency also:

* sent warning letters to 50 children's web sites that it identified as iffy, and alerted them to full privacy notice requirements;

* released the findings of the April 2001 COPPA …