The survey was conducted by FollowUp.net in Westport, CT. Like a lot of these surveys, it''s slightly self-serving in the sense that FollowUp.net markets technology that is useful for complying with COPPA regulations. But even so, 93 percent? Come on.

About 325 child-oriented Web sites were surveyed, the company said, and the reasons for non-compliance ranged from "it does not affect us" (from a site that published children''s full names, e-mail addresses and hometowns) to "none of our visitors are children" (from a toy site sponsoring a "dinosaur survey").

The survey was conducted from Wednesday, May 17 through Monday, May 22 with Web site visits and follow up phone calls to webmasters and executives, FollowUp.net said.

Many toy, Beanie Baby and Pokemon sites simply claim their visitors are adults, not children, so they do not need to comply. Some fan club, pen pal and magazine sites that clearly have audiences of children under 13 often have fine print on their registration forms that says, "By registering at this site you are agreeing that you are over 13". Some sites even force children to claim they are over 18 to participate so the child cannot be honest and still participate.

One site had a 12-year-old child posting a pen pal request right next to one from a "twenty-five-year-old male looking for an older chubby man."

A comic book site has a registration page with a check box that says: "If you are under 13 get your parent or guardian''s permission, then check this box." The procedure merely takes the child''s word, but does not follow the requirements for parental notice and opt-out, FollowUp.net said.

Non-profit sites, including Christian outreach and bulletin boards solely targeted to kids, claim they do not need to comply because there is a loophole for them in COPPA. However, these sites are posting kid''s e-mail and address information while Webmasters acknowledge that they see "list bots" regularly crawling their sites collecting e-mail addresses.

COPPA, an act passed by the Federal Trade Commission, became effective on April 21. It requires that certain Web sites obtain parental consent before collecting, using or disclosing personal information (full name, home address, email address, telephone number, etc.) from children under 13. Two types of Web sites must comply with this act: commercial websites directed at children under 13 and general audience Web sites that collect personal information from children under 13. Key provisions of the law are available here.

The FTC has launched a special Web page to help children, parents, and site operators understand the provisions of COPPA and how the new law will affect them.

FollowUp.net does customer profiling based on a platform called PCIX -- Permission-based Customer Information Exchange, designed to enhance the ability for vendors and customers to communicate. ProfileTracker is the company''s main product. The company has 15 different tracker applications, including Child.tracker at childtracker.net. Child tracker generates an email to parents asking for permission to interact with children, gives parents access to their children''s information, and can send surveys and updates to both parents and children.

"What we want to see is for the world to go more toward permission-based platforms," said FollowUp.net CEO Chris Woods.

There is, of course, competition, including PrivaSeek''s New Child Persona technology, which also helps businesses comply.