Virtual Piggy upgrades tech to comply with FTC

LOS ANGELES — Virtual Piggy, an online service that allows parents to monitor their children's online shopping behavior, has upgraded its security service to ease compliance with Federal Trade Commission regulations.

The security service offers parental verification as well as transactional capability, which allows merchants to comply with the updated amendments to Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.

In December 2012, the FTC issued amendments to the COPPA standards that enforce transparency for parents into all of their children’s information that a website may collect. Virtual Piggy allows parents to access all of their children’s subscriptions, memberships and transactions in one place.

The changes to COPPA affect any companies that have children younger than 13 years of age within the U.S. as part of their audience, which includes a wide array of businesses that range from major global entertainment companies to mobile application developers for the Apple Store and other online stores. Last week the FTC sent letters to more than 90 businesses informing them that they could potentially be in violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act when changes to the law go into effect July 1.

“Virtual Piggy is the only technology that provides both parental verification and transactional control in a COPPA compliant manner. We validate the identity of both the parent and the child and can authenticate that the parent has approved the website for use by their child quickly and seamlessly,” said CEO Dr. Jo Webber. “The changes to COPPA will soon be in effect and our technology provides a simple solution to the challenges of meeting the requirements of this law.”