NAI Overhauls Privacy Principles For Online BT Ads

In the first major overhaul of its guidelines in eight years, the self-regulatory group Network Advertising Initiative issued new privacy principles for online behavioral advertising, or serving ads to people based on their Web history. As with the old standards, the new code of conduct in many circumstances requires ad companies that target Web users anonymously--that is, without collecting names, addresses or other personal information--to notify users of the practice and allow them to opt out. But the new guidelines differ in some respects from the older ones. For instance, Network Advertising Initiative members that serve ads based on so-called "sensitive" information--including social security numbers, financial account numbers, real-time geographic location and some types of medical data--must now first obtain users' explicit consent, even when the targeting is anonymous. Previously, there was a restriction on using sensitive information to target people when the data was considered "personally identifiable." In addition, member companies that use behavioral targeting techniques on children under age 13 must first obtain the verifiable consent of a parent. The blueprint also says that companies should not retain data longer than necessary. Members of the Network Advertising Initiative include Google, Yahoo, the Fox Audience Network, Revenue Science, and AOL's Advertising.com and Tacoda. The revisions come almost one year after the Federal Trade Commission issued its own new proposed self-regulatory principles for behavioral targeting. The agency has yet to finalize those guidelines. The Center for Democracy and Technology says the NNI principles all short on several issues, leaving holes in consumer protection that must be plugged by federal privacy legislation.