Let's help Wetpaint find a solution for dealing with COPPA regulations. Read up on COPPA then add your thoughts below. Is/Can Wetpaint be used for students under the age of 13?

My thoughts: Wetpaint is directed at teachers to use. Wetpaint does not soliciate students within the school system to create and maintain accounts on the site. Therefore I would read this as Wetpaint does not fall under the COPPA obligation. Teachers create an account then then create student accounts...therefore the responsibility of COPPA fall in the hands of the teacher.
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It seems to me that Wetpaint just needs to declare that, as the operator of the commercial website, it will only use the information as per exception #5(see following). Or is Wetpaint actually using student info for other purposes? I'm assuming not. If they are, I would not want to be using this site with my students, regardless of their age.

Exceptions (from COPPA)
The regulations include several exceptions that allow operators to collect a child's email address without getting the parent's consent in advance. These exceptions cover many popular online activities for kids, including contests , online newsletters , homework help and electronic postcards . Prior parental consent is not required when:

• an operator collects a child's name or online contact information to protect the security or liability of the site or to respond to law enforcement, if necessary, and does not use it for any other purpose.

As to "my thoughts" above, I agree. Educators have already had to obtain parental consent, on an annual basis, to have a child use the internet for classroom purposes.
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Have you seen what PB Wiki (now PB Works) has done with student logins? I think it is a great solution allowing teachers to create safe user id's and passwords for their students so they don't need to sign up for their own accounts.
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http://www.coppa.org/comply.htm

Let's be critical thinkers with this concern. I see several red flags in the actual text. But, let's not go overboard with fear. I've pasted in the actual content from the site as to "Who Must Comply"--- and highlighted with colored text phrases, italics and underlining. I'm new at this "wiki" participation thing, but thought, what the heck, I'll give this a try, as I don't want to get going gung ho with our students, only to be shot down. I know this whole "addition" on my part can be deleted, that's fine. But, these are my thoughts.... That which I put in red--- we'd better STOP and take a serious look! I have no intention of "collecting personal info" from students. Students ought to be able to do the "wiki" thing without providing such info, right? That which I put in yellow--- we'd better slow down and read carefully! Our school/ class wikis will not intentionally (with knowledge) collect info from children (our wikis are going to remain PRIVATE anyway, at least 'til we see any value of sharing them). I like the idea of informing parents of what we are doing; don't we educators like to be in contact with our parents anyway? This is a small matter-- include the COPPA info and briefly explain how we will not violate the law. Among the "several factors"-- subject matter-- ought to be good, clean student friendly, human being friendly stuff (do no harm to anyone!) same with visual / audio content (I will know what the students are doing with this if I have any sense of classroom management/ wiki management/ heart.... ) "advertising"-- not going there! will not be soliciting info about age of actual or intended audience! I'm sorry, but I don't get the animated character - child-oriented features... our students love animated graphics, but they MUST be appropriate and meaningful for the content, not evil or with false motives. Isn't this a good area for students to edit one another's work-- they are street wise and can speak up, if we create a learning environment where such criticism is welcome and honored, not frowned upon. (again, no harm to anyone!) I, as our school tech person, shall "own" what we do...I shall "control" what does and doesn't work on our private wikis...I will not "pay" anyone anything regarding our wikis (that's why I like wetpaint, it's free). Finally, "what role the Web site plays" -- Our wikis shall not be anything more than to learn how to collaborate, how to learn, and learning about stuff worthy of putting on a wiki for (an ultimately global) audience, not intended or directed to children on any specific age.	If you operate a commercial Web site or an online service directed to children under 13 that collects personal information from children or if you operate a general audience Web site and have actual knowledge that you are collecting personal information from children, you must comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. To determine whether a Web site is directed to children, the FTC considers several factors, including the subject matter; visual or audio content; the age of models on the site; language; whether advertising on the Web site is directed to children; information regarding the age of the actual or intended audience; and whether a site uses animated characters or other child-oriented features. To determine whether an entity is an "operator" with respect to information collected at a site, the FTC will consider who owns and controls the information; who pays for the collection and maintenance of the information; what the pre-existing contractual relationships are in connection with the information; and what role the Web site plays in collecting or maintaining the information.
I am a teacher/ administrator of a charter school in Oregon, all jazzed about doing "wikis" with our students. I am law abiding and teach our students to be likewise. I think we will talk about COPPA and do some group thinking on it. I believe we will come to the same conclusions. I have a strong sense of justice, right and wrong, and do not like to fear based. I feel confident that our wikis will comply. I want to proceed based on these things.	I chose "keenangel" as my user name, simply because I thought it was a fun play on words... sounds like "Teen Angel". Keen means enthusiastic, dedicated, devoted, wholehearted.... and angel means messenger... that's the kind of wiki creator I want to be... "a wholesome, enthusiastic messenger of worthwhile material".
COPPA Exceptions	From COPPA: "Exceptions The regulations include several exceptions that allow operators to collect a child's email address without getting the parent's consent in advance. These exceptions cover many popular online activities for kids, including contests , online newsletters , homework help and electronic postcards . Prior parental consent is not required when: an operator collects a child's or parent's email address to provide notice and seek consent; an operator collects an email address to respond to a one-time request from a child and then deletes it; an operator collects an email address to respond more than once to a specific request -- say, for a subscription to a newsletter. In this case, the operator must notify the parent that it is communicating regularly with the child and give the parent the opportunity to stop the communication before sending or delivering a second communication to a child; an operator collects a child's name or online contact information to protect the safety of a child who is participating on the site. In this case, the operator must notify the parent and give him or her the opportunity to prevent further use of the information; an operator collects a child's name or online contact information to protect the security or liability of the site or to respond to law enforcement, if necessary, and does not use it for any other purpose" My educational Wiki will be used for homework help! All you have to do is require a parent's e-mail for the student to register and jet the parent an e-mail as the student posts. PLEASE!!!! ~cknight
	In an educational project we needed the students to register in to a private game space. We took a list of the students with email addresses from the teacher, then the students were sent invitations, and registered using pseudonyms. The teacher then checked each of the registrations. No personal information is kept. BUT this is in Europe were COPPA does not apply.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/coppa.shtm