In a letter to the Chairman of the Article 29 Working Party and to the Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection consumer organisations from the US and Europe who are organized under the umbrella of the Trans-Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) call for more consumer protection in online behavioural advertising.
The consumer representatives criticise that the proposed self-regulatory regimes by IAB Europe and the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) were insufficient for a number of reasons:
- The use of a graphical icon to provide notice of some data collection practice constituted an inadequate instrument.
- The view that data collected in online behavioural targeting was “non-personal” data was misleading.
- The IAB’s out-out tool, which was based on cookies was unsuitable, since cookies represent a non-permanent register of consumers’ interest - they can easily be deleted by consumers.
The US and European consumer organizations call upon the officials to ensure that consumers can effectively protect their privacy in today’s digital media environment. They also highlight the recently adopted TACD Resolution on Behavioural Advertising.
For further information: TACD letter, TACD Resolution, www.easa-alliance.org/page.aspx/386 und www.iabeurope.eu
Source: TACD