Media and marketing trade associations from across America – including the USA Direct Marketing Association (DMA) – have joined forces to release self-regulatory principles which protect consumer privacy in ad-supported interactive media; requiring advertisers and websites to clearly inform consumers about data collection practices and enabling them to exercise control over that information.

The initiative is the work of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the Association of National Advertisers, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the DMA. The Council of Better Business Bureaus, an organisation dedicated to advancing marketplace trust, is also part of the effort and has agreed, along with the DMA, to implement accountability programmes to promote widespread adoption of the seven principles.

This cross-industry self-regulatory task force represents the first time that representatives of the entire advertising ecosystem have come together to develop principles for the use and collection of data.

The self-regulatory programme is expected to be implemented at the beginning of 2010.

Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour, Federal Trade Commission (FTC), said: “Consumers deserve transparency regarding the collection and use of their data for behavioural advertising purposes. I am gratified that a group of influential associations – representing a significant component of the Internet community – has responded to so many of the privacy concerns raised by my colleagues and myself.

“These associations have invested substantial efforts to actually deliver a draft set of privacy principles, which have the potential to dramatically advance the cause of consumer privacy. I commend these organisations for taking this important first step. I am hopeful that successful implementation will follow. In the meantime, I encourage the entire privacy community to continue a dialogue that places the interests of consumers first.”

John Greco, president/CEO of the DMA, said: “These principles are an important step in developing a meaningful self-regulatory framework for companies advertising online and represent the culmination of many months of hard work.

“We look forward to integrating these principles into DMA guidelines, which for 35 years have set the standard of best practices through our strict ethical guidelines for business.”

Collectively, the participating associations represent more than 5,000 leading US companies. According to the ‘Economic Value of the Advertising-Supported Internet Ecosystem,’ a study commissioned by the IAB, the advertising-supported Internet represents 2.1 per cent of the total US gross domestic product (GDP), contributing $300 billion to the economy and has created 3.1 million US jobs.

In January, the task force announced it had been working on the development of these principles in direct response to calls on the Internet ecosystem by the FTC to develop more robust and effective self-regulation of online behavioural based advertising practices that would foster transparency, knowledge and choice for consumers.

The self-regulatory programme – view the complete document here: www.bbb.org/us/behavioral-advertising-principles – consists of the following seven principles:

• The Education Principle calls for organisations to participate in efforts to educate individuals and businesses about online behavioural advertising: A major campaign is planned over the next 18 months.
• The Transparency Principle calls for clearer and easily accessible disclosures to consumers about data collection and use practices associated with online behavioral advertising.
• The Consumer Control Principle provides consumers with an expanded ability to choose whether data is collected and used. It requires service providers to obtain the consent of users before engaging in online behavioural advertising.
• The Data Security Principle calls for organisations to provide reasonable security for, and limited retention of data, collected and used.
• The Material Changes Principle calls on organisations to obtain consent for any material change to their online behavioural advertising data collection and use policies and practices to data collected prior to such change.
• The Sensitive Data Principle recognises that data collected from children and used for online behavioural advertising merits heightened protection, and requires parental consent for behavioural advertising to consumers known to be under 13 on child-directed websites. This principle also provides heightened protections to certain health and financial data when attributable to a specific individual.
• The Accountability Principle calls for development of programmes to further advance these principles, including programmes to monitor and report instances of uncorrected non-compliance with these principles to appropriate government agencies.