Tag Archives: Advertisement

FTC Settles with Alleged Stealth Behavioral Advertising Targeter

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On January 5, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission announced a proposed settlement with Upromise, Inc., a membership reward service that gives cash rebates for college savings accounts to members who purchase products and services from its partner merchants. The FTC alleged that the “Personalized Offers” feature on the Upromise TurboSaver Toolbar (1) collected far more information about users’ browsing behavior than was disclosed at the time of installation, and (2) contrary to representations in the company’s privacy notice, transmitted that information, which included data such as Social Security numbers and financial account numbers, in clear text.

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Article 29 Working Party Rejects Industry Self-Regulatory Code on Online Behavioral Advertising

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On December 8, 2011, the Article 29 Working Party (the “Working Party”) adopted an Opinion on the European Advertising Standards Alliance (“EASA”) and IAB Europe best practice recommendations for the online behavioral advertising (“OBA”) industry to comply with Article 5.3 of the revised e-Privacy Directive 2002/58/EC (the “cookie clause”). The cookie clause requires a user’s informed consent for the use of cookies and similar technologies that store and access information in the user’s terminal device. Finding practical ways of complying with the cookie clause has proven challenging for the OBA industry, which relies heavily on these kinds of tracking mechanisms.

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New Self-Regulatory Principles for Multi-Site Data

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

This week, the Digital Advertising Alliance (the “DAA”) unveiled new “Self-Regulatory Principles for Multi-Site Data” (the “Principles”), aimed at expanding the scope of industry self-regulation with respect to online data collection. The Principles are designed to supplement the Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising which were issued in July 2009. The DAA is composed of several constituent industry groups such as the American Association of Advertising Agencies, Council of Better Business Bureaus, the Direct Marketing Association and the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

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Congressmen Markey and Barton Address Verizon’s Targeted Advertising Campaign

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On November 4, 2011, Congressmen Edward Markey (D-MA) and Joe Barton (R-TX) reiterated their privacy concerns over the handling of customer preferences in connection with Verizon’s new advertising initiative. After learning that Verizon had notified its customers of the implications of a targeted advertising campaign, on October 6, 2011, Reps. Markey and Barton, Co-Chairmen of the bipartisan Congressional Privacy Caucus, wrote a letter containing several inquiries to both Verizon and Verizon Wireless. In particular, Reps. Markey and Barton requested clarification regarding the companies’ potential disclosure of aggregated customer location information and website viewing history to third parties.

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Article 29 Working Party Meets with Europe’s Online Advertising Industry to Discuss Self-Regulatory Framework

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On September 14, 2011, the Article 29 Working Party (the “Working Party”) met with representatives of the European Advertising Standards Alliance (“EASA”) and IAB Europe, to discuss the industry’s new self-regulatory code of conduct for online behavioral advertising (the “Code”), which was released on April 14, 2011. Continue reading…

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Online Tracking Practices Face Increasing Scrutiny

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

Over the past several weeks, online tracking practices involving the use of Flash cookies and ETags have been the subject of new research studies, class action lawsuits and significant media attention.

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Stanford University Study Finds Online Tracking May Continue Even After Opt Out

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On July 12, 2011, Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society reported the preliminary results of tests conducted with experimental software designed to detect third-party tracking.  Over the months spent developing “a platform for measuring dynamic web content,” researchers at the Stanford Security Lab analyzed tracking on the websites of Network Advertising Initiative (“NAI”) participants by observing how cookies are altered when a user opts out of behavioral tracking on the NAI website, or enables Do Not Track. Continue reading…

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Representative Stearns Introduces Consumer Privacy Protection Act

Posted on April 15, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On April 13, 2011, Representative Cliff Stearns (R-FL) introduced the Consumer Privacy Protection Act of 2011 (the “Act”), which seeks to “protect and enhance consumer privacy” both online and offline by imposing certain notice and choice requirements with respect to the collection and use of personal information.

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Lawsuits Allege Apple Applications Sent Personal Information to Third Parties

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Hunton & Williams LLP

In late December 2010, consumers filed two class action lawsuits against Apple Inc., claiming that several applications they downloaded from Apple’s App Store sent their personal information to third parties without their consent.  Specifically, the consumers claim that Apple allowed third party advertising networks to follow user activity through the Unique Device Identifiers that Apple assigns each device that downloads applications.  The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, also named several application developers such as Pandora and The Weather Channel as co-defendants. Continue reading…

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Microsoft to Introduce Tracking Protection with IE9

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Hunton & Williams LLP

On December 7, 2010, Microsoft announced in a blog post that Internet Explorer 9 will feature a new “opt-in mechanism” and “Tracking Protection Lists” to help consumers control tracking of their online activity.  Since the Federal Trade Commission released its privacy report last week, there has been considerable debate regarding consumer protection on the Internet, especially with respect to the “Do Not Track” concept.  Microsoft’s blog post states, “We believe that the combination of consumer opt-in, an open platform for publishing of Tracking Protection Lists (TPLs), and the underlying technology mechanism for Tracking Protection offer new options and a good balance between empowering consumers and online industry needs.”

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