Advertisers Speak Out Against FCC's Broadband Privacy Proposal
A proposal by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) “could severely curtail effective online advertising,” with negative consequences for online marketers, content creators, and consumers, according to comments by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) this week. The group says possible adverse effects include a less protective online ecosystem for consumers, intrusive privacy pop-ups, the movement of more content behind paywalls, and increasing fees from Internet service providers.
The ANA is a hundred-year-old group with 700 member companies, including a number of ISPs. The FCC released its proposed rules for protecting broadband consumer privacy in March, to mixed reaction from public advocacy groups and industry.
READ MORE: FCC Hopes New Labels Bring Transparency to Internet Contracts
“The FCC’s proposal is potentially damaging to the entire online advertising ecosystem,” said Dan Jaffe, Group Executive Vice President of Government Relations for ANA. “This attempted regulatory overreach by the FCC is not necessary. Existing privacy self-regulatory programs such as those carried out by the Digital Advertising Alliance are working well and already provide consumer transparency, notice and choice for interest-based advertising.”
The Digital Advertising Alliance provides a voluntary self-regulation program for companies using online behavioral advertising. The program includes group principles, implementation resources, and a registry through which consumers can opt out of data collection.
Jaffe calls digital advertising and interest-based advertising a “growth powerhouse that supports much of the freely available content online,” calls for the FCC to produce evidence that it harms consumers. He also says there is no distinction made in the proposal between sensitive and non-sensitive information. He also says that the First Amendment protects ISPs and marketers commercial speech rights against targeted restrictions like those proposed by the FCC, that the commission failed to consider an opt-out strategy, and suggested that the courts would side with the ANA if the proposal was challenged legally.
“The industry has designed strong privacy self-regulatory programs, buttressed with enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general, are an effective framework that provides consumers with the ability to control how information about them is collected and used,” Jaffe said.
Reply comments on the proposal are due June 27.
Source: TheWHIR