In a long-awaited report released on February 12, the FTC issued a revised set of principles to guide companies involved in online behavioral advertising. The main intent of the report is to help online advertisers develop self-regulatory practices that will protect consumers’ privacy while collecting data about consumers’ online uses and activities.

This report is the latest step in the FTC’s ongoing examination of consumer privacy and online advertising. In 2007, the FTC convened a Behavioral Advertising Town Hall where consumers, corporations and privacy groups discussed the challenges and opportunities presented by online advertising. Following the Town Hall, the FTC gathered comments from all of the key stakeholders and the public on how to achieve the desired results.

Receiving scores of comments from as many organizations, the FTC staff drafted a revised set of principles, reflecting recommendations from consumers, industry and policy advocates.

The 4A's has worked cooperatively with advertisers, Internet companies, publishers and companies across various sectors and the advertising ecosystem to provide a practical, real-world, perspective to the policy debate. The association will continue to work with the FTC as it examines online behavioral advertising.

"We commend the FTC’s on-going efforts to protect the privacy of consumers online," said Nancy Hill, President and CEO, 4A's. "The internet will remain a viable advertising medium only as long as users feel secure about the protection of their personal data. To that end, we have launched a broad initiative with the other main stakeholders in behavioral advertising to create a muscular self-regulatory protocol--precisely along the lines called for in the FTC report. We are again heartened by the FTC’s continued understanding that the people best equipped to regulate this new technology are the practitioners who use it daily and are evolving it at seemingly warp speed."

The FTC’s report can be found at: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/02/behavad.shtm.