The FTC has a long history of intervening in the marketplace to protect children. Recall from Chapter 1 that in the seminal case FTC v. R. F. Keppel & Bro., Inc., the Agency stopped a company from marketing candy to children with lottery-like inducements. In Keppel, some candies were packaged with a coin, so, once opened, the candy would technically be free, while non-winners would have to pay the price on the label. The FTC saw this as a form of gambling inappropriate for children.

With the advent of the commercial internet, similar, game-like tactics were used to entice children to reveal personal information online. Targeting of children online seemed to impinge on familial rights to privacy, and the right to privacy in the home. At the same time, the US privacy regime was viewed with skepticism by Europeans, who could point to the lack of protection for children in the US framework as a serious omission and signal of a generally weak commitment to privacy rights. After all, contracts are not enforceable against children in the United States, nor do we conceive of children as rational actors who can bargain for their privacy in the marketplace. For Europeans, it was laissez-faire at its worst for children to be subject to the same privacy regime and roles as adults.

Widespread adoption of the internet also created a new risk landscape for children. High-profile stories circulated in the media about children using the internet with a technical skill that exceeded their judgment. Law enforcement and state attorneys general invoked horrific anecdotes of child predation and luring made easier because of the internet.

With these concerns in mind, Congress quickly enacted the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA). It was enacted in a matter of just months. As a result, COPPA had almost no legislative history to build upon, which led it to be used by different factions as both an information privacy law and an online safety measure.

Recall from Chapter 6 that Priscilla Regan described privacy as a topic that could start a public controversy, but often privacy could not marshal Congress to action. With COPPA, privacy concerns were sufficient to create legislative concern, but the law probably would not have been enacted without the added support of online safety advocates.