Search Engine Optimisation Web Log (BLOG)
Editor: Matt Paines

| This News Blog is dedicated to bringing news, information and innovations targeting the Search Engine Optimisation industry.

Heavy-handed regulation may threaten the commercial viability of the internet

New recommendations in the US on how websites collect, save and share information about users have re-ignited the debate on on-line privacy.

The Federal Trade Commission's new policies - which focus on targeted advertising that tracks consumer behaviour online - don't protect the public according to privacy groups.

Jeff Chester of the Centre for Digital Democracy says he believes that self-regulation simply hasn't worked and there now needed to be laws passed to protect online privacy.

He explained that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is supposed to serve as the leading consumer protection agency in the US but for too long it has buried its mandate in the 'digital' sand.
 
The FTC should have recommended that Congress enact legislation and give people control over what information is collected and how it is used, Mr Chester told the BBC.

For the last year the Commission has been looking at the issue of online marketing, which has grown into a $20bn (£13.6bn) a year industry by pitching adverts at consumers based on what websites they have visited.

However the rights of the online user must be balanced against the benefits associated with data collection - for both advertisers and the consumer.

In fact, regulation that is too heavy-handed could potentially have a devastating impact on the whole commercial viability of the internet.

The ability to store and share information about users enables businesses to target potential customers effectively and to provide them with an improved service tailored to their needs.

What's more this information prevents customers being bombarded with marketing information on products and services that are not relevant to them.

In its recent report on Behavioural Advertising, the FTC expanded on the agency's guidelines for online marketers set out in 2007 and said it aimed to encourage privacy protections while maintaining a competitive marketplace.

The changes it proposes concern transparency and consumer control, reasonable security and limited data retention, consumer consent for major changes to existing privacy policies and affirmative consumer consent for using sensitive data for behavioural advertising.

Whilst two members of the FTC questioned whether the self-regulatory approach laid out in the new report will be effective, many in the industry believe that the Commssion has the balance about right.

If the guidelines are introduced fully it will enable those of us within the industry to focus on improving security to ensure that sensitive data does not fall into the wrong hands and, perhaps more importantly, developing systems whereby only relevant information is retained.

I believe that holding too much information about internet users can be counter productive. Valuable consumer data can be lost under a mountain of information that has the potential to attract the understandable anger of privacy campaigners.

The balance lies in harvesting the correct data, at the correct time, with the consent of users, whilst at the same time ensuring that the information does not fall into the wrong hands.

As Commissioner Jon Leibowitz wrote in a statement released with the report, industry needs to do a better job of meaningful, rigorous self-regulation or it will certainly invite legislation by Congress and a more regulatory approach by our Commission.

Comment:

Become a Fan on Facebook

Follow Matt on Twitter