DAA Blog

Today the DAA announced a major expansion to the framework of its Self-Regulatory Program. The DAA Self-Regulatory Principles for Multi-Site Data represent a significant effort by industry to collectively address uses of consumer data beyond OBA purposes.

Like the Self-Regulatory Principles for OBA that preceded them, these new principles are the outcome of many months of intensive, collaborative work by the DAA, it’s leadership and program participants – and a direct response to concerns expressed by the FTC and policy makers.

The new DAA Principles address several key issues. Among these, that:

•     Third Parties or Service Providers that collect Multi-Site Data for purposes other than OBA should provide consumers with transparency and control
•     Multi-Site Data should not be collected, used or transferred for the purpose of making an adverse determination of a consumer’s eligibility for employment, credit standing, health care treatment and/or insurance underwriting
•     Multi-Site Data that contains certain sensitive health or financial data about a specific individual, should not be collected without that individual’...

A recent survey by Carnegie Mellon University entitled, “Why Johnny Can’t Opt Out: A Usability Evaluation of Tools to Limit Online Behavioral Advertising,” identifies what the researchers view as inefficiencies in the current DAA Self-Regulatory Program.

This study, which cites a small sample size of only 45 participants, insufficiently describes the actual interactions of millions of consumers and their experience with the DAA’s Program by completely ignoring how the average consumer “discovers” their online choices with regard to online behavioral ads.

The DAA has revolutionized consumer education and choice by delivering a real-time, in-ad notice more than 10 billion times every day through the increasingly ubiquitous DAA Advertising Option Icon (also known as the “Ad Choices” Icon).  This in-ad notice allows consumers to easily click-through to the DAA Consumer Choice Web page (bypassing the DAA homepage entirely).  Once on the consumer choice page, the largest graphic element present on the page is a button that clearly states, “Choose all companies” that quickly and easily enables consumers control over their online advertising and at their discretion.

The DAA would like to submit the results of a much broader survey with real-world metrics; one that is occurring every single week in a broad, consumer environment:

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Following October 11, 2011, when DAA Board Member Linda Woolley testified at the “Understanding Consumer Attitudes About Privacy” hearing, Direct Marketing News posted my commentary on some interesting alignments between industry and government on the issue of online privacy, which came to light at the hearing on October 13. You can view the full hearing proceeds here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-vyS6B5AyE.

October and November mark the one-year anniversary of the launch of the DAA Advertising Option Icon and the DAA Consumer Choice Page (the “Consumer Choice” tool hosted at digitaladvertisingalliance.org). These are two pillars of the compliance framework that the DAA first architected in 2010 following its publication of the seven self-regulatory principles for OBA compliance.

In a relatively brisk year, DAA has brought over 400 companies into this framework, a testament not only to the energy and vision of the six stakeholder trade associations that comprise the DAA but also the continued commitment and collaboration that define the industry leaders participating in the DAA today.

These DAA participant companies now include all 15 of the Top 15 online advertising networks among them Google, Yahoo! and AOL; plus major, global brands such as American Express, Bank of America, Disney, General Motors and Walmart, among others.

And that’s just the industry side. As important is the increasing ubiquity of the DAA Advertising Option Icon itself. More DAA Icons are appearing in more ads before more consumers than ever before through the vast network of DAA participant companies: nearly 1 million consumers have been served the DAA Icon since the program went live. 600 billion monthly Icon impressions were served as recently as August, 2011; and...