CDT Applauds Significant Forward Steps in FTC Behavioral Advertising Guidelines

Washington – The Federal Trade Commission today issued a report outlining self-regulatory guidelines for the online advertising industry.

“This is the industry’s last chance to get self-regulation right,” said Leslie Harris, President and CEO of the Center for Democracy & Technology. “The FTC report makes clear that the industry’s own efforts in this area have fallen short and must do more.”

CDT’s December 2008 report on the state of the industry’s self-regulatory efforts noted several areas that fell short of full privacy protections. CDT also noted the need for continued FTC examination of behavioral advertising.

“The FTC report issued today raises the bar for self-regulation from where the industry is today, but it doesn’t address all of our concerns,” said Ari Schwartz, CDT’s vice president. “For example, the guidelines don’t address the question of when a company collects all or considerably all of a user’s traffic, such as when an ISP is doing deep packet inspection.”

The FTC said that “significant work in this area remains,” and that it would continue to industry’s progress in self-regulation. Meanwhile, CDT looks forward to working with the agency and the Senate Commerce Committee on legislation that could address online behavioral advertising and general consumer privacy.