Toysmart Can Sell Customer Data - With Limitations

jmozena writes "Disney's failed Toysmart.com has gotten the go-ahead from the Federal Trade Commission to sell its customer database as part of a bankruptcy sale, as long as the buyer agrees to abide by Toysmart's privacy policy. The FTC also found that Toysmart violated the Child Online Privacy & Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998 by collecting information from children under 13 without their parents' consent, and is filing a complaint in federal court to get Toysmart to destroy that information before any sale. This is the first time the FTC has filed a complaint under COPPA. The FTC press release is here."

EasyKill adds: "[here] is a link to the zdnet story about the FTC allowing Toysmart to sell some of their customer database, albeit under limited circumstances. I don't think this is a good thing, but it could be worse."grahamwest also points out this CNNfn story on the decision.

You may also be interested in the story emmett posted when the plan to sell this data first came to light, and the followup hemos posted about the involvement of the FTC. For once, I think I (mostly) agree with the FTC.