Pressure is mounting on the online advertising community to scrap its behavioural ad icon – backed by an information website – and set up a proper ‘do not track’ web browser system.
The European Commission’s Article 29 Working Party – made up of data protection chiefs from individual EU states – has stepped up its attack on the scheme, this time warning the industry that the current approach does not comply with Europe’s recently revised ePrivacy laws.
There has been a sustained attack on the icon-based scheme virtually since launch. Some commentators claimed it was just a ‘fudge’ to avoid tighter regulation, while this summer the Article 29 Working Party itself deemed it ‘meaningless’.
Brussels is piling on the pressure because of the looming deadline for implementing the new cookies law, as tracking web activity and storing the data falls under this change in the regulations.
The 12-month grace from May 2011 in running out and requires firms to get “explicit consent” from Internet users before storing their data or installing cookies on their computers.
Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said: “There are different interpretations, sometimes, or even confusion about what the rules mean and how to comply with them. The industry has set up a self-regulatory initiative on online behavioural advertising. However this code alone, while certainly contributing to transparency, will not solve the issue, being inherently limited.”
Article 29 Working Party chairman Jacob Kohnstamm indicated he agrees with the Commissioner, accepting that while an icon may help raise awareness, it does not go far enough. “A do not track setting in a browser means that users should no longer be tracked, instead of just not being shown targeted advertisements,” he said.
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