FTC Asked To Protect Mobile Privacy

The Center for Digital Democracy and US Public Interest Research Group are asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether mobile marketers are violating users' privacy. They allege that emerging mobile marketing shops deploy the same "unfair and deceptive" behavioral targeting strategies as older Web marketers. The groups are asking the FTC to probe how nascent mobile ad companies deploy techniques like behavioral targeting (or serving ads to people based on their online activity) and geo-targeting (serving ads based on people's physical location). The complaint also asks the FTC to order mobile ad companies to notify consumers about how their data is used, and seek explicit consent to its collection. Currently, marketers that send text ads to users first seek people's opt-in permission--which is a requirement under federal Can-Spam regulations. But marketers also are increasingly exploring search ads and banner ads, which are not subject to Can-Spam.