European Commission and Privacy
The European Commission is organising a personal data use and protection conference to look at new challenges for privacy. Get details here:
The European Commission is organising a personal data use and protection conference to look at new challenges for privacy. Get details here:
Increasingly, leading advertisers and marketers who want to see digital marketing succeed are the leading advocates for responsible practices. See this from former Internet Advertising Bureau head Greg Stuart:
“Fight to the death those who want to use/abuse the medium for short-term gain but long-term loss, even if a marketer. Attack any entity trying to participate in mobile who disrespects the consumer or outright annoys them. Aggressively protect consumer trust, whether it be around issues of privacy or other issues of transparency to consumer.”
http://mansavesdog.wordpress.com/2009/04/10/mobile-advertising-maybe-next-year-or-the-year-after-that/
We are thrilled to formally welcome today several additional sponsors. AOL, eBay, Facebook, Intel, The Nielsen Company, Verizon and Yahoo have joined AT&T as supporters of the Future of Privacy Forum and will be working with us on an exciting research project. Stay tuned for more details to come very soon about this project, as well as news about several additional supporters.
Jules will be participating in the Executive Security Action Forum, held in conjunction with the RSA Conference in San Francisco on April 20, 2009. The Executive Security Action Forum (ESAF) is an association of senior executives who are responsible for protecting information for Global 1000 companies and government. Membership in the Forum includes executives such as Chief Information Security Officers, Chief Privacy Officers, Chief Risk Officers, and Chief Information Officers. ESAF enables these leaders from the private and public sectors to share insights, discuss key issues, and find actionable solutions to today’s information security challenges. Chris will also be speaking at the conference on April 24, 2009. For more information about the RSA Conference please go to: http://www.rsaconference.com/ESAF.aspx
Jules will be participating in the TRUSTe Webinar on March 26, 2009. The webinar will explore how advertising has supported the Internet’s remarkable growth and seems to represent a viable revenue stream for many sites for the foreseeable future. The Internet offers the potential of perfect targeting – delivering just the right ad to each user. But does targeting the right ad require knowing a lot about individual users? Will privacy concerns prompt policymakers to regulate? How can participants in the online advertising eco-system afford notice and otherwise comply with basic privacy principles?
TRUSTe Webinar: Regulating the Online Behavioral Advertising Eco-System
When: Monday, March 30, 2009 – 11am-12pm PDT/2pm-3pm EDT
Description: How can online behavioral advertising be managed and regulated to benefit both consumers and businesses? Leading online experts discuss why policymakers are now getting involved and how industry can answer the call for effective self-regulation.
Details and sign up below.
http://web.archive.org/web/20090715151449/http://www.truste.org:80/about/events.php?
In January, the Future of Privacy Forum released a set of priorities for the new administration. Among the issues we raised was the need to update the old Office of Management and Budget policy which severely limits agencies from using permanent cookies to optimize Web sites. No “my.epa.gov” or “my.whitehouse.gov” unless you log in each time, no shopping carts that you can return to the next day, and no useful analytics that can be used to improve the Website structure or content – without significant hurdles such as the approval of the Secretary of the agency (or his designee). We raised some general principles for a new policy, but here try to present further detail. Thoughts on this draft are welcomed. We will provide the final version to the White House Office of Science and Tech Policy for input into their efforts related to the President’s Transparency and Open Government Memorandum.
Additional resources:Articles by Chris Soghoian, the original DoubleClickepisodeleading to the policy and commentary byAlissa Cooperof CDT.
Please comment or email with your ideas to improve the draft below.
DRAFT
Ensuring that Interactive Tools used by Government Provide Users with EnhancedTransparency and Controls for Data Collection and Retention Analytics, Research or Others Using Cookies, Tracking Pixels or Other Tools
Saul Hansell of the NY Times does a good job describing Google’s new behavioral advertising features. I would add one more company, WPP’s Safecount, to the list of those showing user’s their profiles. Safecount is in the research/analytics business, not directly in behavioral ad business, which is probably why Saul didn’t include them. However, the reality in the industry today is that all the data business models are beginning to converge as data collected on one platform is also available for other uses. Consider for example Revenue Science (now Audience Science) which started out serving individual sites, but now has expanded into also acting as a behavioral ad network.
One other point that we like about Safecount is the way their home page is structured to serve both individuals and businesses. Most ad networks or analytics companies have corporate sites geared toward recruiting new business partners, with a small privacy link at the bottom that leads to consumer privacy information. But individuals visiting an ad network home page aren’t looking to buy ads. Individuals visiting these sites are there to learn about how web surfing data is used and perhaps how to opt-out. Safecount sets a good example by recognizing the dual audience they serve and sets a great model for transparency by providing precious home page space to communicating with consumers. Data sites that aren’t ready to go as far as Safecount by splitting their home page between their two audiences might consider atleast putting their privacy link in a more visible location at the top of the page.
A more prominent communication about data use is certainly something every Web site ought to be considering, but companies in the data business who want to be more transparent should take particular note. Check out also the prominent “CONSUMER” tab on the Blue Kai home page and the Opt Out link on the TruEffect home page.
Recently, Chris and Jules hosted a panel discussion at the International Association of Privacy Professionals Privacy Summit 09. The panel entitled, “Cheers & Jeers: Who is Doing Privacy Right and Who Deserves Detention” featured a survey of information comprised of input from a preliminary online survey of privacy professionals. Members of the audience then voted on good and bad practices in which various organizations and corporations are currently engaging. At the end of the session Chris and Jules announced the “cheer” and “jeer” that received the most votes. You can find all of the survey results below.
FPF Co-Chairman and Director Jules Polonetsky today issued the following statement in reaction to Google’s announcement that it would begin to give users the ability to see and edit the information that it has compiled about their interests for the purposes of behavioral targeting, and provide users with the choice to opt out from interest-based advertising.
“Google’s new privacy and advertising measures are a good step forward to give users more transparency and control. With this step by Google, in addition to recent steps by companies like eBay, Yahoo! and BlueKai, we are finally seeing some real privacy progress in the area of behavioral advertising. The next step is for advertisers, agencies, and publishers to join in the efforts to provide innovative ways to give consumers greater control over the use of their information.”