Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a hearing on privacy and the Internet. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is currently investigating the use of behavioral advertising and its potential impact on personal privacy. The industry representatives did an excellent job of explaining their privacy policies. From my perspective as a consumer, I found the testimony persuasive and I am not concerned that information collected about me will fall into the wrong hands. One company offered testimony that it had more than 40 full-time privacy officers; another said they let users customize privacy settings, and all of the companies described the techniques they use to anonymize data.

However, the industry is being put on the defensive by groups who would suggest tailored advertisements are somehow a threat to the consumer. Several questions posed by the senators reflected concern about the practice of behavioral advertising in general, even if data is adequately secured. As advocates for the industry, we now have the task of explaining to lawmakers that advertisers are not interested in sensitive personal data, and have a strong incentive to protect the consumer. The consumer has many choices and the Internet sites are in many ways more subject to the consumer’s whims and fancies than other businesses. Visiting different websites usually doesn’t cost more money, and physical location isn’t an issue. If consumers are concerned about a website’s privacy policies, it is easy for them to stop visiting that website altogether.

It is also important to inform lawmakers that regulating Internet ad companies is not even the best way to protect consumers from privacy breaches. The government could more easily punish and deter illegal hacking or misuse of data. They could also provide grants to Internet advertising agencies to aid in developing new technology to protect consumer’s privacy. It’s obvious to me that Internet advertisers aren’t the bad guys, but it might be a struggle to convince Congress of the same.

Tomi Turner works in ERA’s government affairs department.

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