UK could get icons on behavioural ads

The UK's online advertising trade body says it will help producean icon to be displayed every time behavioural advertising is used,OUT-LAW.COM can reveal. The move would alert users to the fact thattheir browsing history has been used to profile them.

Trade body the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has said itwill create an icon that would alert UK web users every time theirweb surfing is used to decide what adverts they see. Current IABguidelines say that giving notice of behavioural tracking isoptional.

Behavioural advertising is the use of cookies to track web usersfrom site to site. Their browsing history is then used to displayadverts which companies believe will be appropriate for them.Someone looking at a shoe shopping site then reading an onlinenewspaper, for example, might be shown ads for shoes at thenewspaper site.

Web users are rarely aware that they are being tracked, though,and (27-page PDF) recently said that theyobjected to the activity.

Consumer protection regulator the Office of Fair Trading (OFT)launched an investigation last October into whether or notbehavioural advertising breaches consumer protection laws, and agroup of MPs and Lords has called for the law to change to make itillegal to engage in behavioural advertising without web users'consent.

A group of trade bodies in the US has launched a graphic thatwill indicate that behavioural targeting has taken place and thatthe advertiser adheres to a set of industry-set self-regulatoryrules. That group of bodies includes the American Association ofAdvertising Agencies (4As), Association of National Advertisers(ANA), Direct Marketing Association (DMA), the Council for BetterBusiness Bureaus (BBB), and the Interactive Advertising Bureau(IAB).

The IAB in the UK said that it is also working on a similarscheme. IAB UK's head of regulatory affairs Nick Stringer said thatit would not be a part of the US plan but is working on somethingsimilar.

"The IAB welcomes the icon as a way of offering internet usersgreater transparency and choice over data collection and use inproviding more relevant advertising," he said. "We are workingtowards a global icon and believe this is in the best interests ofinternet users."

"The icon is currently a US initiative for the US market. TheIAB will be working with our US members and with Europeancolleagues to move towards a consistent icon for the UK and EUmarket," he said.

Current IAB policy is that the labelling of ads should beoptional. Its guidance on behavioural advertising says that"[organisations] may provide a link alongside advertisements servedto contracted partners or on their own site to information aboutthe collection and use of data to provide OBA [online behaviouraladvertising] and how to decline OBA".

The US scheme is based on research conducted by Washingtonprivacy think tank the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) which foundthat certain phrases were effective in attracting users' attentionto behavioual ad notices.

"The two phrases that performed significantly better than othersin the 2600 internet user panel were, 'Why did I get this ad?' and'Interest based ads'. 'AdChoice', a phrase which is currently beingused by eBay in its notice program, was a favourite of earlierfocus group participants, particularly with less experiencedinternet users," said a about its results from the FPF. "Overallthe notices research showed which phrases and icons were moreeffective than others, but it also indicated that an educationaleffort will be necessary to fully ensure that users comprehendbehavioral advertising practices."

The announcement of the scheme said that those words would beassociated with the graphic.

"Participating companies will use this wording and link/iconwhen engaged in online behavioural advertising to indicate theiradherence to the [self-regulatory] principles and as the link thatprovides consumers with easily accessible disclosures about datacollection and use practices associated with online behaviouraladvertising," it said.