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Web Advertisers' New Self-Regulating Policies -- Will They Work?

by Leila Brillson on July 2, 2009 at 01:46 PM



After Feds decided to step up their monitoring practices of Web ad companies that use behavioral advertising (which narrows ad content based on search terms, age ranges, and interests), a group of Web and media advertisers decided to launch new guidelines on privacy.

USA Today reports that more than 5,000 companies, along with the Better Business Bureau and the American Association of National Advertisers, developed seven main principles for self-policing, allowing surfers to 'opt-out' of any behavior advertising and showing what type of data is being collected, and by whom. Often, free services share search terms to sustain themselves, and most users are unaware of this policy.

The benefit, of course, is that Internet businesses are getting a jump on lawmakers before they enact legislation without their input. Also, ads will become more effective. Industry attorney Stu Ingis told USA Today that, "Businesses are using information to deliver ads more relevant to consumers. This will make it a more a more efficient process to deliver content and services that consumers want."

Like Hulu allowing watchers to choose what commercials they see, the notion is, search engines are powered by revenue, so why not advertise to those that might actually be interested in the products? Self-regulation is ideal, as long as ad people stick to being as transparent as possible, explaining exactly how data is being used.

This, of course, assumes that individuals are as educated as possible, knowing where to opt out and why -- a step that Internet companies, search engines, and data collectors are going to have to seriously make for any regulations to make sense at all. Especially when it's often unclear that searchers even 'opt in' in the first place. [From: USAToday.com]

Tags: advertising, FTC, privacy, search, search engine, SearchEngine, top

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