European Parliament proposes tough behavioural ad rules

[Ian Batten]

On 12 Nov 2010, at 09:01, Peter Tomlinson wrote:

> From Pinsent Masons in their weekly out-law newsletter:
> 
> Adverts based on a web user's activity should carry a sign saying
> 'behavioural advertisement' and display a window explaining what
> information has been used to select that ad, a draft report by the
> European Parliament has said.

I suspect that the more sensible end of the advertising industry is having a facepalm moment over BT/Phorm, because the general air of sleaze (BT probably won't be prosecuted, but even the debate is something most advertising initiatives don't invite) is hard to shake off.  Had BT not staged that initial trial, and denied knowledge of it to customers whose HTML was re-written, and had the Home Office not written what could be interpreted as a letter of comfort, the problem would have remained at the fringes.  As things stand, the EU are flexing their muscles, and any advertising initiative that plays in this area starts on the back foot.

ian