Maine Statute / Effective 9/11/09

The legislature in Maine has passed a law due to take effect on September 11, 2009, entitled “An Act To Prevent Predatory Marketing Practices Against Minors”.

This new law significantly expands the prohibitions which are set forth in Federal Law (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) and makes it illegal to capture online virtually ANY personally identifiable information about a Minor Child (under the age of 18) for marketing purposes, in the state of Maine, without prior verifiable parental consent.

The new prohibition, which is intended to protect residents of Maine, extends to the collection of first name or initial, address, social security number or other personally identifiable information without prior parental consent of children under the age of 18 instead of 13.

The Law states that penalties for violation of this Law can be severe and range from injunction, recovery of damages and attorney fees to civil penalties of up to $20,000 per violation, as well as exposure to further potential liability under the C.O.P.P.A law.

If you like, we can go over your existing promotions which could be affected by this new legislation with you, and help you ascertain the best practical approach in each instance. We also would recommend that you review this law with your internal or outside counsel to form an opinion on how this new law may apply to your existing and future promotions.

From our perspective, it may be that voiding Maine residents for promotions that are open to minors (under 18 years of age) after September 10, 2009 in light of this new law may be the most prudent step.  Going forward, future promotions open to persons under age 18 will have to consider this Maine statute and what programming steps will be necessary to obtain verifiable parental consents before collecting online even a first name or initial of a minor child in Maine, or if disqualifying entrants within the State of Maine will be the best solution.

Please let us know how we can be of service to you. As always we want to keep you apprised of new legislation or changes in industry standards that may impact your promotions.