New Privacy Guidelines for Remarketing

At the Association of Canadian Advertisers “Marketing and the Law” conference today, the Privacy Commissioner introduced new guidelines for online behavioural marketing (aka remarketing).

The Privacy Commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, said that consumers are “very sensitive” about their private data.  Interestingly, Tarik Qahawish, Director Digital Marketing & Communications at Aeroplan, released the stat that only 55% of Canadians are concerned about privacy.  This isn’t a lot, really, and the stat drops to 45% when counting users of social media.  However, it is best to be completely respectful of any sensitivity so we should all consider how to implement the Commissioner’s guidelines.

Here’s my two cent summary of the official guidelines:

• Info on online behavioural advertising (particularly the collection of data) should be given to the user.
• This info should not be buried in privacy policy. It should be on page.
• The user should be given the option to opt-out.
• If the user opts out, the opt out should be immediate and the user’s data destroyed or anonymized.
• Accepting participation in a site should not be contingent on giving info.
• Organizations should not knowingly track children (but no definition of ‘child’ given).

Here’s is a copy of the Guide: Privacy and Online Behavioural Advertising, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

In a smart move, IAB then revealed its plans for industry self-regulation:

• Clear labelling of online behavioural advertising, with one click to more info and options to opt out.
• They will release training on new tools in Q1 and implement in Q2.

We all have to grapple with the right balance between innovation (which benefits the consumer) and the consumer’s right to use social marketing tools and brand digital properties without feeling like Big Brother is tracking them.

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