EPIC Recommends Additional Clarifications to Strengthen Privacy and Online Safety Protections for Minors in Comments to the Colorado Attorney General

Last week EPIC submitted comments in response to the Colorado Attorney General’s Office’s rulemaking to implement amendments to the Colorado Privacy Act (CPA) governing privacy and safety protections for minors’ online data.

The proposed rule clarifies the scope of critical provisions in the CPA that will improve minors’ privacy and safety online. In addition to ensuring that the term “sensitive data” includes inferences from precise geolocation information, the rule also clarifies the knowledge standard required to apply the law’s safeguards to minors and the extent to which design features may extend or maximize online engagement.

In our comments, EPIC recommended ways in which the Attorney General can make provisions more privacy protective and clarify that this section of the statute does not interfere with protected First Amendment speech.

EPIC regularly advocates for privacy for minors online and platform accountability and governance policies that protect the speech, privacy, anti-discrimination, and safety rights of internet users, including minors. In court, EPIC has filed amicus briefs in cases involving the intersection of privacy, kids’ online safety, and the First Amendment. Recently, EPIC testified in support of Massachusetts bill S.30/H.4229 regulating harmful platform design and the Vermont Age-Appropriate Design Code.