Feb. 23, 2012 – At a White House meeting held today to unveil the blueprint for the Obama Administration’s “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights,” the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) and its members were praised by White House, Department of Commerce and Federal Trade Commission officials for their efforts during the past three years to protect consumers’ privacy online. These efforts include the DAA’s Self-regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising and last month’s “Your Ad Choices” public education advertising campaign.
“While privacy remains one of the most challenging issues in the Internet age, the Coalition for Healthcare Communication, through its work with the American Association of Advertising Agencies, is proud to be part of the solution announced by the White House today to enable consumers to better exercise their privacy and marketing preferences,” said Coalition Executive Director John Kamp. “Much still remains to be done, including urging all Web publishers, agencies and clients to take full advantage of the DAA’s self-regulatory program in order to create a more robust and trustworthy Internet marketplace,” he added.
The DAA also announced today that it will immediately begin work to recognize browser-based choices with a set of tools by which consumers can express their preferences under the DAA principles.
“The Administration, Congress, and the FTC have been pushing the business community for several years to make sure consumers are aware of the information practices occuring online and providing choices to consumers regarding the collection and use of information about them,” said DAA General Counsel Stu Ingis. “The DAA is an embodiment of leading companies responding to this call.”
For more information on this groundbreaking news, see the press release from the 4A’s, released at noon today: http://www.aaaa.org/news/press/Pages/022312_daa_whitehouse.aspx
May 27, 2011 — As Congress considers six pieces of pending legislation introduced to protect consumers’ privacy online – all but one of which recommends mandatory “Do Not Track” provisions – the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation last week held a hearing to discuss whether Do Not Track also should be expanded to mobile device marketing.
“I think anyone who uses a mobile device has an expectation of privacy, and sadly that expectation is not always being met,” Committee Chairman Sen. John D. “Jay” Rockefeller IV (D-W. Va.) said in a statement. “As smart phones become more powerful, more personal information is being concentrated in one place. These devices are not really phones—they are miniature computers.”
Testifying before the Committee, David C. Vladeck, director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said that mobile device applications and ads that allow for the collection of consumer information “need to provide meaningful disclosure in a small screen environment” to prevent the invisible collection and sharing of consumer data with multiple partners.
Vladeck commended Rockefeller and fellow committee member Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) for the two consumer privacy bills they have introduced. “Although the [FTC] has not taken a position on whether to recommend legislation in this area, the Commission strongly supports the goals of Sen. Rockefeller’s Do Not Track legislation and supports the approach laid out in that bill,” Vladeck said. Kerry’s bill does not call for a Do Not Track mechanism.
Vladeck noted that “the absence of a privacy policy makes things more difficult” to enforce and that his response to using Do Not Track in the mobile device setting is positive. “It’s hard to argue in favor of a business model that depends on deceiving consumers,” he said.
He added that the Commission “is committed to protecting consumers in the mobile sphere through law enforcement and by working with industry and consumer groups to develop workable solutions that protect consumers while allowing innovation.”
Acknowledging that industry is trying to self-regulate online behavioral advertising both online and in mobile device marketing, Vladeck indicated that the adoption of self-regulation has been rather slow. “Until advertisers agree to be bound by [self-regulation] – actually signing up and making this happen – I think the business community knows that at some point, sooner or later, there will be a Do Not Track requirement,” he told the Senate Committee.
“Whether we are conducting marketing activities online or through mobile device apps, industry must get its act together and begin self-regulation – quickly and in large numbers – if we are going to mandatory Do Not Track regulation,” said Coalition for Healthcare Communication Executive Director John Kamp. “We can’t ‘wait and see’ any longer – the time to get on board is now.”
The Coalition opposes mandatory Do Not Track provisions and believes that consumer privacy and robust Internet commerce is better served by self-regulation (www.AboutAds.com) that enables easy consumer opt-outs of unwanted tracking and marketing.
May 17, 2011 — Widespread industry participation in online behavioral advertising (OBA) self-regulation is the only way for the program to succeed and for advertisers to stave off federal regulation of behavioral marketing practices, according to Dick O’Brien, head of the 4A’s Washington office and moderator of an OBA educational Webinar for ad agencies.
“Do it now,” said John Kamp, executive director of the Coalition for Healthcare Communication. “Agencies, publishers and medical companies must get on board today to make the self-regulation program work. If this program is not widespread and visible soon, Washington will mandate a ‘do-not-track’ program that will be a disaster for us, our clients and the public.”
The 4A’s Webinar, “A Complete ‘How-To’ Guide for Ad Agencies Implementing the New Industry Online Behavioral Advertising Program,” features presentations from John Montgomery, COO, GroupM; Josh Berman, director, Trading Strategy, GroupM; and Lee Peeler, president, National Advertising Review Council, Better Business Bureau. [View the free Webinar and learn more about OBA self-regulation at: http://www.aaaa.org/events/webinars/media/Pages/051011_dc_behavioral.aspx]
The Webinar speakers explain the genesis of the AboutAds.com program and why it is so important for agencies and clients to participate now. They also cover the core principles of the program, who is covered, program icon implementation, entities’ roles and responsibilities, approved providers to assist companies, and program costs.
“The core of this sound, robust program is transparency and choice,” O’Brien said. “To keep government legislation away,” more entities must sign on for program implementation, he asserted.
May 13, 2011 – In the span of one week, two new bills calling for “Do Not Track” provisions were introduced in Congress, increasing the pressure on lawmakers to address the various versions of Do Not Track legislation that have been introduced during the past few months.
On May 9, Sen. John D. “Jay” Rockefeller IV (D-W. Va.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, introduced the “Do-Not-Track Online Act of 2011,” a bill that is designed to empower consumers to opt out of having their activities tracked online. This bill calls for a mandatory browser-based Do Not Track mechanism and would set time limits regarding how long a company could keep any data that is collected online.
“Recent reports of privacy invasions have made it imperative that we do more to put consumers in the driver’s seat when it comes to their personal information,” Rockefeller said in introducing the bill. “I believe consumers have a right to decide whether their information can be collected and used online. This bill offers a simple, straightforward way for people to stop companies from tracking their movements online.”
House Co-chairmen of the Bi-Partisan Congressional Privacy Caucus Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) also introduced a bill on May 6 that amends the Children’s Online Privacy Act of 1998 to “extend, enhance and update the provisions relating to the collection, use and disclosure of children’s personal information and establishes new protections for personal information of children and teens,” according to a press release.
The “Do Not Track Kids Act of 2011” aims to protect children on the Internet, which is “their new 21st century playground,” Markey said. It calls for parental consent of the collection of children’s information and would establish a “digital marketing bill of right for teens.”
These two bills join four other privacy bills introduced previously by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)/Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), and Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.). Of these bills, the Kerry/McCain bill is the only privacy legislation that does not call for a Do Not Track mechanism.
The Coalition for Healthcare Communication opposes mandatory Do Not Track provisions and believes that consumer privacy and robust Internet commerce is better served by self-regulation that enables easy consumer opt-outs of unwanted tracking and marketing. As such, the Kerry/McCain bill is the most palatable to industry “because it recognizes the value of self-regulation,” said John Kamp, the Coalition’s executive director. “We want to be able to move forward to protect consumers in a more collaborative way,” he added.
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