Date: 12-26-2007
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed a set of principles to guide the online behavioral advertising, the process of delivering advertising targeted to the individual consumer's interests by tracking their online activities. The proposal, titled Behavioral Advertising: Moving the Discussion Forward to Possible Self-Regulatory Principles, addresses the fact that behavioral advertising practice is largely invisible and unknown to consumers. One of the proposed principles says that every website should provide an obvious statement that the data is being collected and give consumers the choice to opt-in or opt-out. The FTC also proposes that these companies should provide reasonable security to consumers for that data and they should limit the time they store it. Additionally, these companies should not target ads based on sensitive data, including medical information or children's activities online, without users' express permission.
