Late last week, the Federal Trade Commission issued a report detailing revised guidelines regarding how online advertisers should protect consumers’ privacy when collecting information about their web activities. I believe these FTC principles for online advertising reflect a clear response to the concerns consumers have about the lack of transparency and control Internet users have regarding the tracking and retention of their personal web searches.
The guidelines include principles that include expectations that web sites provide clear and prominent notice regarding behavioral advertising, as well as an easy way for consumers to choose whether or not to have their information collected for this purpose. The report also encourages companies to design “creative and effective disclosure mechanisms that are separate from their privacy policies” to help consumers untangle the sometimes long and complicated privacy policies on sites that are often difficult to understand. As noted previously on this blog, consumers often do not read privacy policies, so providing clearer disclosure elsewhere on a website about what happens to consumers’ information online is a step in the right direction.
The report also urges companies to retain data only as long as it is needed to fulfill a legitimate business or law enforcement need. The report continues to urge companies to obtain affirmative consent from online users before collecting any sensitive data for behavioral advertising.
Check out the FTC press statement for a summary of the principles here – www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/02/behavad.shtm – and refer to the complete report for more information, www.ftc.gov/os/2009/02/P085400behavadreport.pdf.
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