Does the First Amendment trump the right of an aggrieved merchant who seeks to unmask the identity of the authors of scathing reviews?  That’s how many framed the key issue in Yelp! Inc. v. Hadeed Carpet Cleaning, Inc., which was appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court.  Did the court answer the question as to

Yelp recently settled allegations made by the FTC that it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule, and has agreed to pay a $450,000 civil penalty for the violation, according to an FTC press release. The Yelp case underscores that online services that ask for users’ ages in the registration process will be deemed as having “actual knowledge” of that information. Therefore, whether a site is directed to children or not, a registration process including an age field effectively turns the process into an “age filter,” and may put the site at risk of violating COPPA.
Continue Reading Latest FTC Settlement Determines Yelp Had ‘Actual Knowledge’ of Collecting Children’s Info