Dawn C. Chmielewski and Alex Pham of the L.A. Times report:
Walt Disney Co. has agreed to pay $3 million to settle charges that online virtual worlds once operated by its Playdom games division violated federal rules designed to protect the safety and privacy of children younger than 13 on the Internet.
The Federal Trade Commission charged that several sites, including one online virtual world targeting children called Pony Stars, illegally collected and disclosed personal information from thousands of children, in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
Read more in the Bellingham Herald.
The FTC’s press release on the settlement can be found here, while the complaint and other documents on the case can also be found on FTC’s site.