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Nickelodeon Pulls SpongeBob App Amidst Privacy Complaint

Nickelodeon has pulled a popular SpongeBob app from the App Store amidst a consumer group's privacy complaint.

December 18, 2012

Nickelodeon has pulled a popular SpongeBob app from the App Store amidst a consumer group's privacy complaint.

Apple iOS users who have already downloaded SpongeBob Diner Dash can still access the game, but it is currently not available in Apple's store. "We elected to voluntarily take the app down while we investigate the complaint," a Nickelodeon spokesman said in a statement.

On Monday, the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, which asked the agency to "investigate and bring action against" Nickelodeon and developer PlayFirst for deceptive marketing and violations of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

According to CDD, the SpongeBob Diner Dash app description says it complies with COPPA. "However, as CDD's filing documents, Nickelodeon and PlayFirst engage in several practices that are clear violations of the children's privacy law," the group said.

COPPA bans online services from collecting information from children under the age of 13 without parental consent; (hence why Facebook does not allow kids under 13). CDD said that the SpongeBob Diner Dash game "asks children to provide a wide range of personal information, including full name, email address, and other online contact information, without providing notice to parents or obtaining prior parental consent." The app also does not adequately explain what information is collected.

The complaint asks the FTC to investigate how the app collects data, its privacy policies, and how it might use mobile marketing technologies like unique device identifiers (UDIDs) and "device tokens" for push notifications.

"It is disturbing to learn that a well known children's brand such as Nickelodeon is flouting basic privacy protections for children. Even more troubling, Nickelodeon tells parents that it complies with the law protecting children's privacy when it does not," said Laura Moy, an attorney at Georgetown Law's Institute for Public Representation (IPR), which prepared the complaint on behalf of CDD.

The complaint comes shortly after the that found app makers are failing to provide parents with adequate information about how their apps collect and distribute information about children. Mobile apps are siphoning an "alarming" amount of data about kids without disclosure, the FTC said last week.

"As the FTC report last week on children's mobile apps revealed, this industry is not taking seriously its obligations under COPPA," said Jeff Chester, CDD's executive director. "The Commission needs to step up its enforcement actions and adopt new rules that will address the growing threats to children's privacy in the expanding mobile marketplace."

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