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By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/1/2013 1:52:55 PM Even as he announced he was heading for the exit -- Feb. 15 -- Federal Trade Commission chairman Jon Leibowitz sent a signal that the commission remains focused on online privacy, in this case app privacy. That included a settlement with one app company, a new report on mobile app privacy disclosures and a set of mobile app best practice guidelines for protecting information.

According to the FTC and Justice Department, social networking app Path agreed to pay $800,000 to settle charges that it collected personal information online from kids younger than 13 without securing their parents' consent, which violates the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.

In a complaint filed Jan. 31 in the Northern District of California, the FTC and DOJ cited over 3,000 instances where Path collected personal information from address books using the mobile app, including names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. It also collected info when kids registered or accessed content, the agencies said.

Along with the $800,000 civil penalty, Path agreed to delete all info it had collected from kids younger than 13 and promised not to violate the Children's Online Privacy Protection rule in the future. It must also "implement a comprehensive privacy program, and submit to regular assessments by an independent third party." Those are similar to requirements placed on Google in an FTC settlement over online privacy issues.

Path blogged that the problem has already been corrected. "As you may know, we ask users' their birthdays during the process of creating an account," the company said. "However, there was a period of time where our system was not automatically rejecting people who indicated that they were under 13. Before the FTC reached out to us, we discovered and fixed this sign-up process qualification, and took further action by suspending any underage accounts that had mistakenly been allowed to be created."

"Over the years the FTC has been vigilant in responding to a long list of threats to consumer privacy, whether it's mortgage applications thrown into open trash dumpsters, kids' information culled by music fan websites, or unencrypted credit card information left vulnerable to hackers," said Leibowitz in a statement that had the ring of a valedictory address. "This settlement with Path shows that no matter what new technologies emerge, the agency will continue to safeguard the privacy of Americans."

The court has to accept the settlement for it to be official, though that is essentially a pro forma step.

In addition to the settlement, the FTC Friday released a new study, Mobile Privacy Disclosures, with a host of recommendations -- which could be viewed as the chairman's parting advice on how to avoid regulation. Those included "considering" a do-not-track regime for smartphones, standardized privacy policies, getting affirmative consent before accessing sensitive data -- like geolocation -- and much more.

"The FTC should be applauded for continuing down the path of voluntary recommendations that give companies flexibility to find the best solution for their particular needs," Daniel Castro, a senior analyst with Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said in a statement. "However, while some of these recommendations are in line with current industry best practices, others reflect an overemphasis on privacy at the expense of innovation."

The Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) was accentuating the positive for the most part.

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Social Networking App Company Path Settles FTC Privacy Complaint