NetChoice – a coalition of web companies like AOL, Yahoo, IAC, eBay, Overstock.com and NewsCorp. Recently expressed their concerns with Maine’s new privacy law. Titled “An Act to Prevent Predatory Marketing Practices against Minors”, the new law prohibits companies of knowingly collecting, exchanging or trading personal or health-related information from minors under 18 without their parent’s consent.

Media organizations decided to fight the new law and asked the federal district court in Maine to issue an injunction against the measure. They say the new law, in its actual form, is hurting not only their business but also young people’s access to useful information about weight loss, AIDS treatment and a host of other beneficial health care products and services.

The opponents of the law contend the measure is unconstitutional and violates the First Amendment by prohibiting them to publish the names of children under 18 in the newspaper in certain circumstances.

The law appears to make an attempt to update the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 which regulates Internet marketing to children younger than 13. The new proposal extends the age and forbids marketers from gathering personal information about teens younger than 18 without their parent’s consent. This would prevent common marketing practices used to serve teens information on colleges, test prep services, and class rings, argue the angry online media groups.

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