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On December 4, 2017, the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI), a self-regulatory body comprised of more than 100 digital advertising companies that collect and use consumer information for online behavioral advertising (OBA),1 issued an update to its Code of Conduct (the “Code”).  The Code imposes notice, choice, accountability, data security, and use limitation requirements on NAI member companies.

The 2018 Code update is most significant for combining the NAI’s web-focused Code with its previously-separate mobile application code of conduct (the “App Code”) and incorporating the NAI’s prior guidance on cross-device tracking. These updates reflect the NAI’s recognition of the decreasing significance of the distinction between web and mobile advertising, with today’s advertisers increasingly savvy at tracking users and advertising effectiveness across devices, browsers, and platforms. The update also revises some terminology for greater clarity. The 2018 Code update went into effect on January 1, 2018.
Continue Reading NAI Issues 2018 Update to Its Code of Conduct

Online interest-based advertising, sometimes called behavioral advertising, is big business. Advertisers—and the technology companies that make this business possible—use information collected from a particular computer or device, over time and across others’ websites, to predict preferences and target and display advertising that is most likely to interest the user.

With encouragement from the Federal Trade Commission,1 online advertising industry organizations adopted a set of “Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising (OBA Principles),”2 which apply to members of those organizations: the ad networks, advertising agencies, service providers, and web publishers that engage in or facilitate the collection of online user data across websites for purposes of interest-based advertising. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) enforces the OBA Principles through its Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program (Accountability Program). Recent action by the BBB reflects its commitment to vigorously enforce the OBA Principles.
Continue Reading Better Business Bureau Keeps Promise of Vigorous Enforcement of Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability Program