[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 48 (Tuesday, March 12, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15724-15725]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-05630]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB 
Review; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Notice and request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) plans to 
conduct an online survey of parents and (with parental permission) 
their children from the ages of 8-16 years old who watch movies, listen 
to music, and/or play game applications (apps) on smartphones, 
Internet-accessible handheld devices, or tablet computers (collectively 
app-capable mobile devices) that run either the Apple's iOS or Google's 
Android operating system. This is the second of two notices required 
under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), and the Commission seeks 
additional public comments and requests Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) review of, and clearance for, the proposed collection of 
information.

DATES: Comments must be received by April 11, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment online or on paper, by 
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of the proposed information requirements should be addressed to 
Keith Fentonmiller, (202) 326-2775, Attorney, Federal Trade Commission, 
Bureau of Consumer Protection, Division of Advertising Practices, 600 
Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20580.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Online survey of parents and children about movies, music, 
and games on app-capable mobile devices.
    OMB Information Collection Request Reference Number: 201302-3084-
002.
    Type of Information Request: New collection.
    Type of Review: Regular.
    Abstract: Although children (like consumers generally) increasingly 
are purchasing or playing movies, music, and games on app-capable 
mobile devices, no commercially available data quantify children's 
consumption of mobile content that is rated or labeled as potentially 
inappropriate for them; assess whether and to what extent the various 
content rating systems impact their ability to purchase or play such 
content; or measure the content restrictions imposed by parents, 
including through technology-based parental control mechanisms. 
Accordingly, the Commission proposes to conduct a survey of parents and 
(with parental permission) their children from the ages of 8-16 years 
old who use the most common app-capable mobile devices--those that run 
either Apple's iOS or Google's Android platform. The staff anticipates 
conducting a voluntary online survey of 900 adult respondents and 900 
children drawn from a nationally representative pool. The Commission 
expects that the survey results will help inform its policy 
recommendations on the marketing of violent entertainment to children.
    On September 24, 2012, the Commission sought comment on the 
information collection requirements for the proposed consumer research. 
77 FR 58834. No comments were received. Staff, however, did have a 
telephone discussion about the proposed survey with representatives 
from the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). The ESRB expressed 
concern that the Commission was planning to survey only children, in 
contrast to prior surveys, which asked questions of both children and 
their parents. After further consideration, the Commission has decided 
to expand the online survey to include the parents of children who 
watch movies, listen to music, and/or play game apps on mobile devices. 
As required by OMB regulations, 5 CFR part 1320, the FTC is providing 
this second opportunity for public comment.
    This online survey will build upon the body of consumer research 
that the Commission has conducted in the media violence area since 
2000, which includes seven undercover shops by children of music, 
movie, and video game retailers and movie theaters; two telephone 
surveys of parents and children about their awareness and use of the 
entertainment rating and labeling systems; \1\ a mall intercept study 
of parents on the adequacy of rating disclosures on movie DVD cases; 
and a telephone survey of parents on the marketing of unrated DVDs.\2\ 
Although a survey of only children about their consumption of violent 
entertainment on mobile devices would be informative, past research has 
been especially instructive when the Commission has been able to 
compare the responses of parents and their children about parental 
involvement in the selection and purchase of violent movies, music, and 
games; the extent to which parents restrict their children's access to 
violent content; and awareness and use of the rating and labeling 
systems for such content. This research has uncovered significant 
differences between what parents think they are doing to regulate their 
children's consumption of violent content and their children's reported 
experiences. These areas of parent-child disconnection have informed 
the Commission's recommendations for the entertainment industry and 
guided its consumer education efforts. For these same reasons, the 
Commission now intends to survey parents about their children's access 
to violent content on

[[Page 15725]]

mobile devices, awareness and use of content labeling and rating 
systems, and awareness and use of parental controls for mobile content. 
Similar questions will be posed to the adult respondents' children.
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    \1\ See FTC, Marketing Violent Entertainment To Children: A 
Review Of Self-Regulation And Industry Practices In The Motion 
Picture, Music Recording & Electronic Game Industries, Appendix F, 
at 5 (Sep. 2000), available at http://www.ftc.gov/reports/violence/Appen%20F.pdf; FTC, Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children: A 
Fifth Follow-up Review of Industry Practices in the Motion Picture, 
Music Recording & Electronic Game Industries, at 25 (Apr. 2007), 
available at http://www.ftc.gov/reports/violence/070412MarketingViolentEChildren.pdf.
    \2\ See FTC, Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children: A 
Sixth Follow-Up Review of Industry Practices in the Motion Picture, 
Music Recording & Electronic Game Industries, at 10 & 16 (Dec. 
2009), available at http://ftc.gov/os/2009/12/P994511violententertainment.pdf.
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    Likely Respondents: With the assistance of a consumer research firm 
(hereafter the Contractor), the FTC will develop a draft questionnaire 
for use in a nationally representative online survey of parents and 
(with parental permission) their children ages 8-16 years who watch 
movies, listen to music, and/or play game apps on a mobile device that 
runs either the Apple iOS or Android operating system. To the extent 
feasible, the adult panel shall consist of 100 adult respondents for 
each of the nine child age groups between ages 8 and 16, inclusive (900 
total adult respondents). The child survey shall be conducted as an 
adjunct to the parents' survey, i.e., by surveying each child about 
whom the adult respondents answered their survey questions (900 total 
child respondents).
    Estimated Annual Hours Burden: Approximately 417 hours (117 hours 
for the adult screener + 300 hours for the parent and child surveys).
     Screening Questions: The screening questions will be asked 
of approximately 7,000 adult respondents to provide a large enough 
random sample for the surveys. Cumulatively, screening should require a 
maximum of 117 hours (7,000 total respondents x 1 minute for each). 
Because the adult respondents will be pre-screening the 900 child 
respondents, the Commission does not anticipate any burden on children 
related to screening.
     Survey Questions: Answering the surveys will impose a 
burden per adult respondent of approximately 10 minutes, totaling 150 
hours for all respondents to the surveys (900 respondents x 10 minutes 
per survey). Similarly, answering the surveys will impose a burden per 
child respondent of approximately 10 minutes, totaling 150 hours for 
all respondents to the surveys (900 respondents x 10 minutes per 
survey).
    Estimated annual cost burden: $0.
    The cost per respondent should be negligible. Participation is 
voluntary, and will not require any labor expenditures by respondents. 
There are no capital, start-up, operation, maintenance, or other 
similar costs to the respondents.
    Request for Comment: You can file a comment online or on paper. For 
the Commission to consider your comment, we must receive it on or 
before April 11, 2013. Write ``Entertainment Industry Study: FTC File 
No. P994511'' on your comment. Your comment--including your name and 
your state--will be placed on the public record of this proceeding, 
including, to the extent practicable, on the public Commission Web 
site, at http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of 
discretion, the Commission tries to remove individuals' home contact 
information from comments before placing them on the Commission Web 
site.
    Because your comment will be made public, you are solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any 
sensitive personal information, like anyone's Social Security number, 
date of birth, driver's license number or other state identification 
number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial 
account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any 
sensitive health information, like medical records or other 
individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not 
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information 
* * * which is privileged or confidential.'' See Section 6(f) of the 
FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 4.10(a)(2). 
In particular, do not include competitively sensitive information such 
as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas, patterns, devices, 
manufacturing processes, or customer names.
    If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential 
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for 
confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained 
in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c). Your comment will be kept 
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole 
discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the 
public interest.
    Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to 
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit 
your comments online, or to send them to the Commission by courier or 
overnight service. To make sure that the Commission considers your 
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/mobileappssurveypra2, by following the instructions on the web-
based form. If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov, you 
also may file a comment through that Web site.
    If you file your comment on paper, write ``Entertainment Industry 
Study: FTC File No. P994511'' on your comment and on the envelope, and 
mail or deliver it to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, 
Office of the Secretary, Room H-113 (Annex J), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue 
NW., Washington, DC 20580. If possible, submit your paper comment to 
the Commission by courier or overnight service.
    Visit the Commission Web site at http://www.ftc.gov to read this 
Notice. The FTC Act and other laws that the Commission administers 
permit the collection of public comments to consider and use in this 
proceeding as appropriate. The Commission will consider all timely and 
responsive public comments that it receives on or before April 11, 
2013. You can find more information, including routine uses permitted 
by the Privacy Act, in the Commission's privacy policy, at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.shtm.
    Comments on the information collection requirements subject to 
review under the PRA should also be submitted to OMB. If sent by U.S. 
mail, address comments to: Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for 
the Federal Trade Commission, New Executive Office Building, Docket 
Library, Room 10102, 725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503. 
Comments sent to OMB by U.S. postal mail, however, are subject to 
delays due to heightened security precautions. Thus, comments instead 
should be sent by facsimile to (202) 395-5167.

David C. Shonka,
Acting General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2013-05630 Filed 3-11-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P