martinibuster - 3:32 am on Nov 5, 2007 (gmt 0)

In the most significant review of online advertising in eight years, FTC Commissioners express concern over the state of online advertising and indicated they will increase oversight over the industry.

The NY Times [nytimes.com] reports that at a two day conference held to discuss the state of advertising and consumer privacy, FTC commissioners expressed their intention of increasing oversight and rules over online advertising. Points of concern include online privacy, current opt-out policies, and behavioral targeting.

FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz expressed that he believes behavioral targeting should be opt-in, and also expressed concern over children's exposure to advertising, and that the complexity of the average privacy policy was too difficult to understand.

People should have dominion over their computers,” he said. “The current ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ in online tracking and profiling has to end.”

Commissioner Jon Leibowitz also stated that,

...rules about the privacy policies of Web sites may need to be established.

Elsewhere the NY Times reports [nytimes.com]:

It has been eight years since the F.T.C. has held a public workshop on the use of consumer data in online ads, and a lot of the hypothetical situations described then are now a widespread reality.

High on the agenda of privacy advocates at the conference is a do-no-track rule that also gives consumers the ability to view and edit their online advertising profile.