Minors’ Online Privacy & Safety: Navigating the Evolving Legal Landscape

Joel Schwarz, Managing Partner | The Schwarz Group, LLC

Joel Schwarz is the Managing Partner of The Schwarz Group, LLC, a boutique consultancy providing risk-based legal, technical, and compliance guidance across cybersecurity, privacy, data governance, and emerging technologies, and an adjunct professor at Albany Law School. His career spans internet enforcement and privacy oversight in government and industry, from prosecuting cybercrime at the US Department of Justice to serving as Special Counsel for Internet Matters and Assistant Attorney General in the New York State Attorney General’s Office Internet Bureau.

• Education & Credentials

Joel earned his law degree, cum laude, from Albany Law School and his undergraduate degree, cum laude, from SUNY Binghamton, and holds an Advanced Information Technologies certification from New York University. He holds the CIPP certification from the International Association of Privacy Professionals and the CDPSE certification.

• Recognition & Leadership

Joel stood up and led the Civil Liberties & Privacy Office of the National Counterterrorism Center as its first Civil Liberties & Privacy Officer, developing agency-wide privacy and civil liberties compliance programs. He is the author of the forthcoming book From Main Street to C-Suite: Cybersecurity, Privacy, and Working with Law Enforcement (Spring 2027).

• Professional Involvement

Joel is a co-founder and board member of the Student Data Privacy Project, a foundation focused on protecting student data privacy and holding EdTech companies accountable. He develops and teaches Master’s and LL.M. courses on cybercrime, cybersecurity, and privacy at Albany Law School, serves as a cybercrime and privacy expert for a Washington, DC television news station, and speaks and writes frequently on privacy, data protection, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies, with contributions appearing in The Hill, Bloomberg, Education Week, and the IAPP’s Privacy Advisor.

• Experience

As a Trial Attorney in the US Department of Justice’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, Joel prosecuted cybercrime cases and represented law enforcement in negotiating the APEC Privacy Framework. In the New York State Attorney General’s Office, he served as Special Counsel for Internet Matters and Assistant Attorney General for the Internet Bureau. In the private sector, he served as Senior Principal at Global Cyber Risk LLC and as Senior Director of Global Internet Enforcement & Data Analytics for BSA | The Software Alliance, where he managed GDPR implementation and developed and administered BSA’s GDPR-Compliant Policy Framework, and earlier served as e-commerce and privacy counsel for MetLife.

Julia B. Jacobson, Partner | Squire Patton Boggs

Julia B. Jacobson is a partner in the Data Privacy, Cybersecurity & Digital Assets practice at Squire Patton Boggs, based in New York. She counsels national and international clients on privacy and cybersecurity compliance strategies across the fast-moving landscape of US state privacy laws, consumer marketing initiatives (including mobile, email, and social media marketing compliance), artificial intelligence and technology transactions, and data breach response.

• Education & Credentials

Julia earned her LL.M. (2001) and J.D. (1999) from Boston University School of Law and her B.A. from the University of Michigan (1988). She is admitted to practice in Massachusetts (1999), holds the CIPP/US and CIPM certifications from the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), and earned a Data Ethics Certificate from the University of San Francisco (2021).

• Recognition & Leadership

Julia is a Fellow of Information Privacy of the IAPP. She serves on the board of iTechLaw and co-chaired its 2022 World Technology Law Conference.

• Professional Involvement

Julia co-chairs the Boston chapter of the IAPP Knowledge Net and serves on the Privacy, Cybersecurity & Digital Law Steering Committee of the Boston Bar Association. She speaks frequently on state privacy laws, dark patterns, AI governance, data security, web scraping, vendor management, and marketing compliance.

• Experience

Julia’s practice spans privacy notices and policies, data governance, incident response, cross-border data transfers, vendor management, and consumer marketing campaigns. She has brought more than 20 years of experience negotiating technology agreements and serves as a data breach coach for national and international clients.

SESSION 1 – The Legal Framework — Federal, State, and International Laws Governing Minors Online | 2:30pm – 3:30pm

This session maps the substantive legal framework governing minors’ online privacy and safety. It opens with the federal picture — the amended COPPA Rule and related regulatory updates, plus proposed federal legislation focused on minors — before turning to the states, beginning with the defined terms that drive every compliance analysis (who counts as a minor, which organizations are in scope, and how age-verification and age-gating obligations differ) and an overview of the constitutional challenges working through the courts. The session then surveys each category of state law: consumer privacy laws with minor-specific provisions, Age-Appropriate Design laws focused on minors’ online safety and mental health, minors’ online safety laws addressing AI companions, addictive feeds, and CSAM, app-store accountability laws, social media and parental consent laws, and digital ID and age-verification laws. It closes with the international landscape, including social media bans, digital duties of care, AI companion rules, and age-appropriate default settings. Penalties and potential liability — including personal liability — are addressed within the discussion of each law.

BREAK | 3:30pm – 3:40pm

SESSION 2 – Litigation, Enforcement, and Compliance in Practice | 3:40pm – 4:40pm

This session turns from the legal framework to enforcement, litigation, and compliance in practice. It examines the multistate and private litigation shaping the field — the Meta lawsuits, including private class actions and the multi-state attorney general actions, and public school district suits against social media companies — alongside FTC Act Section 5 unfair and deceptive acts and practices enforcement, including the potential personal liability and penalties that follow officers (e.g., Drizly), and state UDAP enforcement. The session then provides a practical roadmap for complying with minors’ privacy and online safety laws: conducting a children’s privacy review, identifying the appropriate compliance approach, updating compliance systems and documentation (online notices, parental notices, consent mechanisms, and related materials), understanding what good-faith compliance efforts look like, and building ongoing monitoring.