80.  Liberty Financial Companies, Inc., FTC File No. 982 3522 (consent announced May 6, 1999)

Respondent: Liberty Financial Companies, Inc.

Respondent operates The Young Investor Web site, an Internet site directed at children and teens focusing on issues relating to money and investing. The Commission alleged that the site falsely represented that personal information collected from children in a survey would be maintained anonymously, and that participants would be sent an e-mail newsletter as well as prizes.

The Commission reached a proposed consent that prohibits such misrepresentations in the future and would require Liberty Financial to post a privacy notice on its children's sites and obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting personal identifying information from children. The proposed consent has been published for public comment.