The above video interview is from the IAB Annual Conference.
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When I did this interview back in February, the IAB had just announced its Code of Conduct for its members and set its deadline for compliance. Now we’re three months closer to August 29, the date by which IAB members have to abide by the Code (and, in doing so, comply with the Digital Advertising Alliance’s (DAA) Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising), or risk being kicked out of the IAB (for new applicants, compliance is a prerequisite).
Are businesses paying attention to the privacy alarm? Many surely are—we’re seeing proof of “first wave” adoption ourselves, with over 80 major brands and 20 leading networks/DSP’s using Evidon InForm to demonstrate evidence of compliance with the DAA’s Program. And the pressure is obviously coming from more than just the IAB. DAA enforcement is under way, and no one is interested in popping up on the radar screens of the BBB and the DMA.
While there is a lot of noise coming from Capitol Hill—from the bi-partisan “Privacy Bill of Rights” drafted by senators Kerry and McCain, to Senator Rockefeller’s “Do-Not-Track Online Act of 2011”—it is key that companies not sit on their hands to wait out how things play out on the Hill. The FTC isn’t sitting still waiting for new laws from Congress. Companies large and small have been forced into decades-long settlements with the FTC.
The only requirement for any member of the ANA, AAF, DMA, IAB or 4A’s is compliance with the DAA program. If anything, the increasing noise level in the market makes immediate adoption of the DAA Program even more logical.
Why? Because the Program is real—it’s the one concrete mechanism that companies can use NOW to provide consumers with meaningful transparency into and control over how their information is used online. Waiting around to “see how things play out on the Hill” exposes your company to risk and will not have any positive impact on the legislative process.
Do Not Track is a loose concept in DC – with very little consensus on what “tracking” even means – and very much beta functionality from the major browser makers, each with its own host of problems. The “tracking protection list” (TPL) concept, or whitelisting, is a prime example. If you’re a consumer, which would you prefer – a contextual notice experience that lets you make an informed decision about who should or shouldn’t be allowed to use your information online, or a blunt decision made for you by another company that dictates which companies are good and which are bad? This is about consumers making an educated choice.
Proposed bills include some interesting ideas, but they’re still only proposed bills. We’ll see what develops out of DC over the next months, and we’re encouraged that some legislators are determined to find a healthy balance between empowering consumers and keeping business strong. But waiting can’t be an option, and it shouldn’t be, considering that there are tools at our disposal now.
So the onus is, as always, on the companies who deliver billions of ads to consumers every day. Use the tools you have—get with the Self-Regulatory Program and educate consumers in a meaningful way. The more people see that icon, and understand what information is being collected and how it’s being used, the more comfortable they become with businesses using their data responsibly. We’ve been given multiple indications from both the FTC and Congress that if we can deliver that sort of transparency and control to consumers through the Program, they’ll find it unnecessary to create more prohibitive regulations around OBA. Then you can get back to focusing on growing your business.
