“Industry Must Unite” On Behavioural Targeting Privacy Issues

Behavioural targeting best practice is “all about transparency” according to assembled industry leaders at the AOP Behavioural Targeting Forum held in London yesterday.

Speaking about the privacy issues surrounding behavioural targeting, Nick Barnett, commercial director at Phorm, made clear the problem was a lack of clarity to consumers.

Barnett said: “The average consumer doesn’t have a clue what’s going on – we need to take responsibility for that.”

He added that “privacy best practice is really quite simple” when you stick to the constraints of the consent form, which Phorm thinks needs to be made clearer to “really spell out what happens”.

Phorm say consent forms need to be fully anonymous with no personally identifiable information (PII), with Barnett adding: “it is increasingly likely that IP address will be considered PII in the very near future.”

Barnett said it is the industry’s job to maintain privacy best practice by using behavioural targeting data in the way consumers have consented to.

He argued that “in many ways, the industry in general doesn’t do this today” because there are too few opt-out options.

However, he firmly believes that things can change and develop, saying: “We all have a specific role to play in how we use consumer data in behavioural targeting.”

Matt Simpson, head of OMD Group Digital, agreed that it is about creating consumer understanding to get past the issue of privacy, which he thinks is one of the “barriers of growth in behavioural targeting”.

Simpson said: “Everybody’s got to be involved in privacy, it’s critical if we believe in behavioural targeting – the industry must unite.”

AOP: www.ukaop.org.uk/ Phorm: www.phorm.com/ OMD: www.omd.com/