Julie Brill of the FTC recently addressed a conference of the Better Business Bureau’s National Advertising Division. During the talk she ‘called out’ ad tech companies for failing to address many of the privacy concerns that consumers have with online advertising. One of the biggest issues was that there is no universal ‘do-not-track’ mechanism created yet, even though the FTC suggested one be made years ago.
She said in the speech, “In 2010, we called for the establishment of a universal “Do Not Track” tool where consumers could opt out of cross-site data collection in their browsers. And yet, here we are in 2015 and consumers’ still do not have an adequate means to opt-out of data collection. It is more clear than ever that self-regulation needs to keep up with the times: after all these years, consumers still don’t understand what’s happening with their personal information, and they continue to struggle to control targeted advertising and data collection.”
She went on to talk about concerns the FTC has in how ad networks use medical related data for targeting ads. She said, “Industry codes may rule out the use of doctor diagnoses for targeting, but web searches and visiting medical websites seem to be fair game. So the fact that you surfed the web or used an app to learn about an STD or heart disease can be added to behavioral profiles and lead to targeted ads on other websites.”
The overall message seems to be that ad networks need to get in line with what the FTC wants or the FTC will begin cracking down with fines, penalties and other punishments. Whatever you think of this type of government regulation, it is definitely a threat that anyone involved with any ad network will want to take seriously.
