Consumers to get say on Internet-based tracking

Groups representing 5,000 advertisers from Procter & Gamble Co., to AMR Corp.’s American Airlines say they will offer U.S. consumers more control over how their Internet browsing is used to target marketing.
Web users will be given the option to bar companies from sending them ad messages based on tracking of their previous online searches, according to a statement last week by the trade groups led by the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the American Advertising Federation.
The industry initiative is based on guidelines recommended last year by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The FTC’s proposals stemmed from the agency’s continuing inquiry into how companies tailor their advertising to individuals and whether practices based on consumer Web browsing intrude on privacy.
“The goal of the program is to make Internet advertising more transparent and allow consumers to have a choice about the ads they receive,” said Stuart Ingis, a partner at Venable LLP in Washington, which is advising the groups, which include the Association of National Advertisers, the Direct Marketing Association and the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
“The public votes every day with their clicks,” Ingis said in an interview. “This program is to make sure that is preserved and can be expanded responsibly.”
Members of the American Advertising Federation include Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest consumer-product company, as well as Coca-Cola Co., Microsoft Corp., and American Airlines and advertising agencies such as Interpublic Group of Co.’s McCann Worldgroup and WPP Plc’s Young & Rubicam Inc., according to the group’s website.
Beginning next year, the Council of Better Business Bureaus and the Direct Marketing Association will enforce compliance with the plan among member companies that choose to join the program. The Direct Marketing Association will also make participation mandatory among its members.
Privacy advocates such as the Center for Digital Democracy, which criticized the FTC’s recommendations last year as ineffective, said the industry proposal also fell short.
“This is too little, too late,” said Jeff Chester, executive director of the group.
The previous FTC recommendations encourage customer control, transparency, data security and a limited period for keeping the customer information.
Under the new trade-group program, an icon will be displayed near online advertisements and Web pages where consumer data is collected and used for “behavioral advertising,” according to a statement.
Consumers will be able to click on the icon for information about such practices and choose whether they want their data used to receive target ads. &#8226