Broadly speaking, COPPA divides the world into two types of sites: those that are targeted towards a child audience and those targeted towards adults or general audiences.

If your site targets children (has cartoons, toy advertisers, etc.) the law has very strict rules regarding the collection of personal information from children under 13, and providing access for parents. The FTC considers full name, home address, email address, telephone number and any other information that would allow someone to identify or contact the child as personal information, as well as hobbies, interests and information collected through cookies or other types of tracking mechanisms when that information is tied to individually identifiable information. You have to get verified parental consent to order to collect any of this type of information.

If you operate a general audience Web site, you still have to comply with COPPA. In this case, you cannot knowingly collect information from individuals under the age of 13. Problems could arise if your site collects age information about visitors and does not immediately discard the data on individuals who are under 13 years old..

To find out more, please read the Federal Trade Commission's COPPA Compliance Guide