Bugle Sounds for Industrywide Counter-Offensive Against Regulation of Behavioral Ads

The effort centers on a “Power-I” icon, a lowercase I in an unclosed circle. Clicking on the symbol, labeled “Interest Based Advertising,” will lead Web visitors to successively deeper and more detailed information on the collection and use of data about their online activity and the choice to opt out of the database of each company involved. Better Advertising will help the industry coalition monitor adherence to the rules and will offer technology to advertisers and publishers for compliance. “We also navigate the murky waters of Washington, D.C.,” to keep compliance up-to-date, O'Malley said Wednesday at the OMMA Behavioral industry conference.

"There are literally billions of dollars at stake” in current business and much more potentially, said O'Malley, formerly of TRUSTe. That’s what brought the industry’s organizations together to “stave off action in D.C.,” he said. Behind the Power-I campaign are the American Association of Advertising Agencies, Association of National Advertisers, Council of Better Business Bureaus, Direct Marketing Association and Internet Advertising Bureau. The next step will be drawing in ad networks and data providers, O'Malley said.

The effort offers a lever to trim U.S. policymakers’ “level of concern” about behavioral targeting, O'Malley said. “Privacy has become a hot-button issue. … When you go from the trade press to the front page of The New York Times to Good Morning America” in coverage of online privacy, that reflects a spike in consumer worry also evident from survey results, he said. It’s time for the industry to push back, O'Malley said. “It’s about our right to deploy data on behalf of advertisers."

"Very significant rules are being introduced on Capitol Hill” concerning behavioral targeting, but the prime movers for action -- “the scary side” -- are the FTC and its chairman, Jon Leibowitz, O'Malley said. The commission already has legal authority to take action and is constantly monitoring the practice, he said.

The main target of the Power-I campaign is Internet users inclined toward activism, because they're the ones whose complaints can prompt government action, O'Malley said. “Most of your users won’t see the deep stuff, but it’s crucial that it’s there,” he said, referring to detailed disclosures, two clicks down from the icon, about the specific “Internet-based marketing providers” and “research & analytics providers” involved with a site and their practices.

"Interest Based Advertising” is “not a perfect term,” O'Malley acknowledged. “It was not our first term.” The expression emerged from consumer research as the most easily understood, he said. “It’s a complex market to break down simply to the consumer,” O'Malley said. The “nuts and bolts” are hard to explain simply, and when “extremely simple terms” are used, “it becomes very vague very quickly,” he said.

The campaign represents a turning point for an online marketing industry that has long talked about privacy and now is acting in a concerted way to get ahead of the issue, O'Malley said. Getting off the defensive in relation to privacy advocates is “really exciting and affirming” for the industry, he said. “The industry has stepped up here. Before, it was a conversation. Now it’s a material platform.” Google, Microsoft and Yahoo already have been working with it, O'Malley said.