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FPF Launches Leading Practices Gallery

June 18, 2009Today, two House Energy and Commerce Subcommittees are holding a joint hearing to discussbehavioral advertising. Clearly, Congressional leaders continue to have concerns about thetechnologies used to track users Web activity and are dissatisfied with current practices. TheFTC has repeatedly expressed its dissatisfaction with the status quo. And significant numbers of consumers themselves make their discomfort clear by deleting cookies. In response, privacylegislation could be on the way.How are companies responding? Some argue that stricter standards will disrupt the economicmodel of internet advertising supporting free content. Some claim that self-regulation is working.Some support national privacy legislation. And others are beginning to explore opportunities toimprove current practices. We think that regardless of whether legislation or better self-regulationis the right answer, companies need to be focused on maintaining the trust and confidence of their users if they hope to be able to succeed in the long run.In order to encourage companies advance trust by finding innovative ways to engage andcommunicate with users about data use, FPF has decided to create a “Leading PracticesGallery”. Our goal is to highlight the companies that are going a bit farther to providetransparency and control to their customers with the hope that other industry players will follow intheir footsteps. We recognize that not all the practices highlighted will be the best solution for every business. We appreciate that some of these examples are only baby steps in the rightdirection. But, all too often, privacy progress by businesses is stalled by critics who deride anyminor progress because it isn’t the perfect solution or because the advances are perceived to bean ingenuous attempt to deter the holy grail of legislation. We take a different view. We think thatby recognizing some of the positive methods that some businesses are taking, we can inspireother companies looking to increase transparency and control and support those who are tryingto get it right. Soon, we will be consumer testing some of these efforts and will be trying to designsome of our own.So take a look at theLeading Practices Galleryto see which companies and practices areworking to improve consumer trust.

Gallery of Leading Practices

In order to encourage companies to further develop innovative means of communicating with their users about data use and behavioraladvertising,

The Future of Privacy Forum

highlights the followingcompanies for taking the lead in providing transparency and control to itscustomers. If you are aware of other companies that deserve a “cheer”,please let us know by commenting or emailing us atinfo@futureofprivacy.org.