WASHINGTON-In a recent comment letter to the Federal Trade Commission, CUNA stated that it supported the continuation of the `sliding scale' for parental consent under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). COPPA aims to prevent deceptive practices in obtaining, using or disclosing minors' personal information on the Internet. The `sliding scale' determines the requirements for obtaining parental consent. They are less stringent if the information is to be used internally, but the bar is raised if the data is to be disclosed to third parties. CUNA's letter said that the group supports COPPA and "believes they achieve the goal of providing more privacy protections for children." CUNA also said that use of a credit card is not a reliable way to verify the age of the person online. In addition, the trade association backed the requirement that the inclusion of contact information for the Web site operator in e-mails sent to parents to obtain consent to use the child's information.