Last week I blogged about Online Behavioral Advertising (“OBA”), a practice that allows advertisers to target particular ads to Internet users based on perceived buying interests. The driver behind OBA is data collection by third-parties about consumer behavior online.
The same week, Congress voted down the FCC’s Obama-era efforts to require certain Internet service providers seek your permission prior to collecting this data. The rule would have dramatically shifted the burden to Internet service providers like Verizon and Comcast to comply with an “opt-in” system for consumers using their services. The rules were set to go into effect in December 2017.
The day after the vote, I was with FTC Chair Maureen Ohlhausen, one of President Trump’s first “regulatory” appointees at a legal conference. Ms. Olhausen took a “small government” approach in her remarks to the group of advertisers and lawyers, including in her assessment of the defeat of the proposed FCC privacy rules. According to Chair Ohlhausen, who holds consumer data should not be the driver on regulation, rather we should look to consumer expectations about how data will be handled in considering online privacy regulation. In essence, this smacks of a turf battle between the FCC (broadcast/communication focused) and the FTC (consumer protection driven).
What are consumer expectations about privacy online? Are website privacy policies effective in placing consumers on notice of a web site’s practices with respect to consumer data collected on the site? Do consumers think differently about collecting data versus using and selling data? Do you think the onus should be on consumers, collection points, or advertisers to take precautions with respect to privacy and advertising?
Are your privacy policy and collection procedures up to date? Do you know about the Digital Advertising Alliance AdChoice icon that allows consumers to learn about and make choices about how their data is collected? There is more to come on this quickly changing subject but now is a good time to review internal practices.