US consumer protection body the Federal Trade Commission has backed a tightening of rules on internet advertising and the use of personal information. It has proposed stronger industry regulation of the tracking of users' habits.
Online advertising is often based on information about a user's browsing habits, but the FTC said that consumers are often unaware of this and are not given a chance to object. It has proposed a set of principles that it says should be adopted by industry.
"Behavioral advertising provides benefits to consumers in the form of free content and personalized advertising but … this practice is largely invisible and unknown to consumers," said an FTC statement. "The purpose of this proposal is to encourage more meaningful and enforceable self-regulation to address the privacy concerns raised with respect to behavioral advertising."
The proposal document aims to make the advertising industry create more stringent self-regulation and inform consumers more fully that their online behaviour is being tracked.
It lays down a set of principles which it says should govern the industry. The first of those is transparency.
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