Friday, March 6th, 2009
The FTC recently released revisions to its self-regulatory principles for online behavioral advertising. But, how might these changes affect your business? In these particular principles, the FTC is focused on “third-party†advertising, rather than contextual or “first-party†advertising. Basically, a website using behavioral advertising only for one website and not aggregating data across multiple sites will not be directly subject to these principles, although they are still subject to other applicable privacy laws. Similarly, advertising based on a specific web query or click will not be subject to the principles unless that data is stored and applied to future actions.
The FTC’s principles focus on increasing transparency and consumer control, reasonable security and limited data retention, affirmative express consent for material retroactive changes to privacy promises, and affirmative express consent or prohibition of the use of sensitive data.
• Increasing Transparency: The principles require a disclosure to consumers that data is being collected and give a meaningful opt-out opportunity. The FTC voiced the desire for strong self-regulation even where data is not personally identifiable if that data “could reasonably be associated†with a particular consumer or device. The FTC also encourages disclosure in places other than the privacy policy. This might include a disclosure on or near an advertisement. They also encourage the use of empirical data to test whether the consumer understands the disclosure.
• Data Security and Retention: The protections should be based on the sensitivity of the data and the nature of a company’s business operations, the types of risks a company faces, and the reasonable protections available to a company. The FTC added that companies should retain data only as long as necessary to fulfill a legitimate business or law enforcement need.
• Material Retroactive Changes: Consent must only be obtained if the change is both material and retroactive. This makes data collected under the old privacy policy subject the old standards and new data subject to new standards, unless affirmative consent is obtained.
• Sensitive Data: The FTC continues to promote “opt-in†standards that require affirmative consent from consumers.
Ultimately this is an attempt to encourage and direct industry self-regulation, but it does not have an independent enforcement mechanism.
Tomi Turner is ERA’s legislative manager.
Tags: behavioral advertising, blog, Electronic Retailer, electronic retailing association, ERA, ftc, Government Affairs, Online, self regulation, tomi turner
Posted in Advertising, ERA, Government Affairs, Marketer, Mobile, Online, Retailer | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009
WASHINGTON—On the cusp of the Electronic Retailing Association’s (ERA) self-regulation program (ERSP) completing its 200th case and a DRTV spot playing during the Super Bowl, ERA president and CEO, Julie Coons, has been named to The National Advertising Review Council’s (NARC) Board. Coons, who was brought on the board simultaneously with DMA CEO John Greco and IAB CEO Randall Rothenberg, recognizes that the perfect storm of the wary economy, the Obama administration and the broader acceptance of direct response marketing all played a significant role in the updated board appointments.
“The convergence of the decision by NARC to welcome ERA to the board and the economic conditions and the continuing evolution of this industry is incredibly synergistic. It gives us an opportunity as an industry to work more closely with the well established organizations representing the advertising community, which will definitely increase our prominence both with the government and industry players alike,†says Coons.
The Better Business Bureau, NARC and various associations are eagerly waiting to see how the recent changes in Washington will affect advertising regulation, which up this point has been widely self-regulated. “We must be vigilant to see what changes are made at the top, particularly with the FTC. We need to be vigilant in this era in which there’s clearly going to be a focus on greater business regulation, but we do have a very good track record. I am not overly worried today, but again, we must be very vigilant to ensure that these new policy makers and appointees understand the tremendous success of ERA’s self-regulation program,†says Coons. Currently, ERA’s ERSP program independently reviews direct response advertising claims and then refers cases to the FTC when its recommendations are not acted upon.
Coons is eager and excited about ERA’s newly positioned role and believes that in the end it will be a major win for the consumer who can expect a greater level of comfort in remote transactions. “This is a result of the electronic retailing industry working with NARC and pursuing a dialogue with them about the changing landscape of reaching the consumer. To their great credit, it also serves as a recognition on NARC’s part that electronic retailers are a very important marketing channel and should be appropriately represented to ensure consumers are protected against false claims,†she says. Coons sees her role as ensuring that the direct marketing industry has an equal voice within the advertising community. For more information on ERA or its government affairs initiatives, please click here.
Tags: Advertising, bbb, better business bureau, blog, direct marketing, dma, drtv, Electronic Retailer, electronic retailing association, ERA, ERSP, federal trade communications, ftc, iab, narc, obama, self regulation, super bowl
Posted in Advertising, Direct Response, ERA, Government Affairs, Infomercials, Marketer, Retailer | 1 Comment »
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