According to the FTC, several Playdom sites that were aimed at young audiences illegally collected and then disclosed personal data in violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). These sites included Pony Stars, 2 Moons, 9 Dragons, Age of Lore, and My DIva Doll. The FTC complaint says that some 821,000 children registered with Pony Stars between 2006 and 2009 and another 403,000 signed up for Playdom's other online virtual worlds. These sites collected children's names, ages, and email addresses and allowed them to post that personal information publicly online -- including their real names and locations. The FTC charged that the company failed to get parents' consent before collecting or disclosing this information.

A Disney spokesperson said in a statement that it was "pleased that Playdom and the FTC have now resolved this matter amicably."

The announcement of the settlement coincides with the introduction of legislation by Representatives Joe Barton (R-Texas) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) that will update online protections for children. Indeed, the legislation that governs children's online privacy, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, was first passed in 1998. 1998 - that's eons ago in Internet years. A world pre-Playdom, pre-Facebook, and even pre-Google. (Well, the search engine was actually incorporated that year.)

The updated COPPA legistation, called the "Do Not Track Kids Online Act," would require online companies to explain the types of data that's collected as well as how it is to be used or disclosed. It would also update language to include mobile applications, and it would ban companies from using children and teens' personal data for targeted advertising.

The federal government is examining a number of new measures to protect consumers' privacy online, but no surprise, particular attention is being paid to the children's privacy online - not just on those sites like Disney's aimed at directly at those under 13, but at others such as Facebook that, despite Terms of Service rules that dictate otherwise, are full of children.

Looking at the latest check-ins from Disney's park in Anaheim, CA, it's clear that check-ins at the parks could use a boost and that location-based services still have a long way to go. Only 10 people used Gowalla to check in to the main park in the last 24 hours. Two people checked in at the Pirates of the Caribbean ride - one of the most popular attractions in the park. Compared to Disney's park in Orlando, FL, these numbers are actually quite high. Only one person checked in to Space Mountain in the last two days.

Judging from these numbers, Gowalla can only profit from this partnership, which also includes the sale of actual pins in Disney's stores across the parks. But by tying its product so closely to these destinations and experiences, chances are that those who encounter Gowalla because of this deal will only think of it in context of this Disney experience and aren't likely to continue to use it outside of the parks.

Also, while collecting badges would be fun for the younger kids in the group, chances are that they are far too preoccupied with everything else that is going on in the parks to worry about checking in. For most adults, these badges aren't enough to motivate them to check in consistently (especially without coupons and other discounts).

Will Disney's Mainstream Appeal Rub Off on Gowalla?

As ZDNet's Larry Dignan notes, "there's nothing more mainstream than Disney World. Disney could introduce Gowalla and geolocation services to a much broader population." While that is true, we have to wonder if the broader population will care about checking in to attractions or if most visitors to Disney's Parks would rather just enjoy the rides without having to deal with their phones.

As one of the biggest players in toy industry, Disney surely holds a lot of sway among its peers. Whether the industry will be able to agree on Disney's proposed standard remains to be seen, but there can be little doubt that having a set of standards for these toys will allow developers to save on R&D cost. Whether these standards will benefit consumers, though, remains to be seen. The toy industry is not known for creating toys that are interoperable and play well with each other, so chances are that this will not change with web-connected toys, either.

Tapulous builds mobile games for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Tapulous games, like Tap Tap Revenge and Riddim Ribbon, have been downloaded by 30% of iPhone and iPod Touch users. The former, Tapulous says, has been installed 35 million times, and stands as the most popular game on Apple's App Store.

With this purchase, Disney moves into production of app-distributed mobile games, and the two-year-old Tapulous gets a big shoulder behind its wheel.

A PR rep for Tapulous said Disney have a "do no harm" approach to the buy.

"They want to maintain the nimbleness and innovative spirit that has made Tapulous so successful to date. Tapulous and Disney also have a strong shared vision for the future of mobile social entertainment-in fact, that shared vision played a major factor in this deal."

All Tapulous employees are being retained.

Hulu = Online TV?

Hulu was already on the brink of becoming the de facto standard for watching TV shows online, and adding Disney to its line-up only consolidates this position. Advertisers have been flocking to Hulu, and while it is getting some serious competition from TV.com, which is owned by CBS (which doesn't have a deal with Hulu), this new deal should give it a nice boost in the next few months.

It should be noted that ABC's own online player features 720p HD versions of all its major prime-time shows, something that Hulu currently doesn't offer, so to get the best quality, users will still have to go to ABC.com.

CC-licensed image used courtesy of Flickr user Raymond Brown.