William Bryan: “Accordingly, I wish to take this opportunity to explain the purpose and some of the important features of the amendment.…”

“Accordingly, I wish to take this opportunity to explain the purpose and some of the important features of the amendment. In a matter of only a few months since Chairman McCain and I introduced this bill last summer, we have been able to achieve a remarkable consensus. This is due in large part to the recognition by a wide range of constituencies that the issue is an important one that requires prompt attention by Congress. It is due to revisions to our original bill that were worked out carefully with the participation of the marketing and online industries, the Federal Trade Commission, privacy groups, and first amendment organizations. The goals of this legislation are: (1) to enhance parental involvement in a child's online activities in order to protect the privacy of children in the online environment; (2) to enhance parental involvement to help protect the safety of children in online fora such as chatrooms, home pages, and pen-pal services in which children may make public postings of identifying information; (3) to maintain the security of personally identifiable information of children collected online; and (4) to protect children's privacy by limiting the collection of personal information from children without parental consent.”