Rash California Minors Get An Online 'Eraser Button'

We've all done it: typed or tapped out a message, posted it online, and immediately wished we hadn't and that we could just erase it from the Internet forever. Now, if you are a California minor, you can. Sort of.

California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed into law S.B. 568, the first bill of its kind in the nation. S.B. 568 enacts two new statutes under the title "Privacy Rights for California Minors in the Digital World." The first, Business and Professions Code section 22580, prohibits advertising certain products to minors online (see blog post here). The second, Business and Professions Code section 22581, requires businesses to provide an online "eraser button" for remorseful minors.

Under the new law, which takes effect January 1, 2015, websites and apps primarily directed to minors, or known to be used by minors, will be required to notify minors of their right to remove information they have posted, and provide an easy to use method (i.e., an "eraser button") so that their users under the age of 18 can delete a posting or picture before it is transmitted to a third party. Once the posting has been transmitted or re-posted by a third party, however, the website is not required to delete those posts.

The purpose of the "eraser button" is essentially to protect teens from themselves - once they have had a chance to reflect on the potentially embarrassing nature of a posting, or other consequences that may flow from it (for example, the impact on a pending college or job application), the presumption is the teen may reconsider. The "eraser button" gives him or her a second chance - albeit brief - before it is too late, allowing escape from the sometimes punishing reality that the Internet is a permanent record. Indeed, recognizing the value to users of an "eraser button," major social...