ISPs Propose Privacy Guidelines for Online Behavioral Advertisers
Sep 29, 2008
As a follow-up to its July hearing on online behavioral advertising, last Thursday, the Senate Commerce Committee invited representatives from AT&T, Time Warner Cable, Verizon Communications and Public Knowledge to participate in a hearing titled "Broadband Providers and Consumer Privacy."
Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND), who led the hearing on behalf of chairman Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI), opened by sharing the results of a recent Consumer Reports survey that found that 72 percent of American consumers are concerned that their online behavior is being tracked or profiled.
The poll also found that 93 percent of consumers think that Internet companies should always ask permission before using personal information. And when it came time for the ISP executives to deliver their testimony, all three individuals (Dorothy Attwood of AT&T, Peter Stern of Time Warner Cable and Tom Tauke of Verizon) announced their support for establishing clear and consistent privacy guidelines that would require any company that engages in online behavorial advertising to first receive affirmative, meaningful consent from consumers...they want to see such a framework applied not only to ISPs but also to online ad companies and search engines.
Public Knowledge president Gigi Sohn commended the three ISPs for adopting the principles they announced but explained that she still believes comprehensive legislation is needed to make sure all Internet providers will protect users' privacy rights. She spoke in particular about her concerns that some companies might use deep packet inspection technology to access private user data.
The Washington Post has more on the hearing, and the debate over what type of privacy guidelines/legislation should be adopted. Meanwhile, British Telecom has announced plans to test a new ad tracking system with 10,000 customers on an opt-in basis.
Tags:
advertising, ATT, behavioral targeting, privacy, Public Knowledge, Senate, Time Warner, Verizon
