The French, Italian, British, German, Spanish and Dutch Data Protection Authorities announced on April 2, 2013 that each will launch investigations and enforcement actions against Google on the grounds that its privacy policy is not compliant with the European Directive on Data Protection, available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/index.htm, (the “Directive”).
Category Archives: Behavioral Marketing
Subscribe to Behavioral Marketing RSS FeedLearning from the Past: The FTC Bans Undisclosed History Sniffing
Posted in Behavioral Marketing, FTC Enforcement, Online PrivacyIt has been said that we must learn from the past to profit by the present. Taking this literally in this digital age of ours, one online advertising company has found this maxim to have some serious privacy implications as evidenced by the FTC order last week banning undisclosed history sniffing practices.
News “Flash” – FTC Settlement Over Use of Flash Cookies Highlights FTC Focus on Consumer Notice and Choice
Posted in Behavioral MarketingThe Federal Trade Commission has announced a settlement agreement with ScanScout, Inc., an online advertising network alleged to have made misleading statements in its privacy policy which omitted to disclose ScanScout’s use of Flash cookies. The settlement terms require ScanScout to implement various conspicuous (i.e., not hidden in the privacy policy) notices regarding behavioral tracking and… Continue Reading
Update: Internet Advertising Groups Launch Self-Regulation Program
Posted in Behavioral MarketingUpdating previous reports, a consortium of internet advertising trade groups recently launched a self-regulatory program which adopts a universal icon to inform consumers when advertisements are targeted as a result of data tracking:
Recent Lawsuits Challenge Use of Flash Cookies to Track Online Behavior
Posted in Behavioral Marketing, Online PrivacyFour recent lawsuits filed against some of the Web’s biggest media companies challenge the alleged use of Flash cookies capable of circumventing a user’s ability to prevent the tracking of online behavior.
This Advertisement is Brought to You By…You
Posted in Behavioral MarketingA new advertising icon was released last week by a privacy advocacy group in conjunction with a group of advertisers and agencies as part of an effort to educate consumers about behavioral advertising and head off federal regulation.
Flash Cookies — Back on the Radar
Posted in Behavioral Marketing, Online PrivacyWhen Flash cookies (also known as a “Local Shared Objects”) were first flagged as a privacy issue back in 2005, a few savvy companies added a disclosure about Flash cookies into their web site privacy policies. Since then, we have not heard the issue raised again. Now this sleeper issue seems to have been awakened by… Continue Reading
FTC Tells Sears That Consumer Disclosures Must be More Conspicuous
Posted in Behavioral Marketing, Data Privacy Laws, FTC Enforcement, Online Privacy, SpywareOver the course of the last decade, many companies have become accustomed to notifying consumers of their data collection practices in their online privacy policy. However, in a recent proposed settlement, the FTC indicated that, at least under the facts before them, disclosures that were “buried” in a privacy policy were not sufficient. On June… Continue Reading
FTC Provides Last Clear Chance for Industry to Self-Police in a Target-Rich Environment
Posted in Behavioral MarketingOn February 12, 2009, the FTC issued its long-anticipated Staff Report on Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising. The revised Self-Regulatory Principles are the result of a year of study of the more than 60 comments provided by industry, advocacy organizations, academics, and individual consumers in response to the FTC’s proposed self-regulatory principles issued in late 2007.
Consumer Advocacy Groups Request Federal Trade Commission Action To Stop Perceived “Threat” From Mobile Marketing
Posted in Behavioral MarketingIn a year when behavioral advertising was already expected to be at the top of the hot button privacy issues list, on January 13, 2008, the Center for Digital Democracy (“CDT”) and U.S. Public Interest Research Group (“US PIRG”) filed a document with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) urging the FTC to investigate online mobile… Continue Reading
Broadband Providers Commit to Self-Regulatory Affirmative Consumer Consent Before Behavioral Tracking
Posted in Behavioral Marketing, Online PrivacyBehavioral tracking of consumers online in order to deliver relevant advertising is a privacy issue that is receiving a lot of attention, and one that has been the focus of Federal Trade Commission and consumer group scrutiny. On September 25th, the United States Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on online privacy and received commitments from the three industry representatives (from AT&T, Verizon and Time Warner Cable) that if they do deploy technologies that are able to track consumer online behavior in order to tailor advertising, that consumers will have clear notice and a full opportunity to provide affirmative consent. None of the companies currently use such technologies in their roles as Internet Service Providers. The broadband providers challenged the rest of the online industry, including web site operators and application providers such as Google, to provide the same protections to consumers. Essentially, the witnesses called for an end to “opt out” when it comes to online advertising.