Australian Best Practice Guideline for Online Behavioural Advertising Introduced

21 March 2011

In what is one of the most significant and broad collaborations within the marketing industry to date, the Australian Digital Advertising Alliance has released the Australian Best Practice Guideline for Online Behavioural Advertising.

The Guideline has been developed by leading industry associations and industry participants to set a best practice framework for organisations engaged in Third Party Online Behavioural Advertising in recognition of the fact that Third Party Online Behavioural Advertising is a relatively new type of advertising and that some consumers are not aware that online behavioural advertising occurs.

The Guideline has been created to build community confidence and understanding in online behavioural advertising. The Guideline, in conjunction with the already existing and strong Australian privacy law, is designed to ensure that individual privacy is not compromised.

The Guideline's release is accompanied by a consumer education website, www.youronlinechoices.com.au, that includes a range of resources to help consumers explore and understand what online behavioural advertising is and what it isn’t. In addition to the tools the website allows consumers a choice mechanism if they do not want to receive ads generated by Third Party Online Behavioural Advertising. Exercising this choice doesn’t mean that consumers won’t receive ads online it means that the ads wont be served based on previous browsing history of the device that the consumer is using.

About the Australian Digital Advertising Alliance

The Australian Digital Advertising Alliance is made up of leading industry associations and key industry participants. Members of the Australian Digital Advertising Alliance are the Australian Direct Marketing Association (ADMA), the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA), the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the Internet Industry Association (IIA), the Australian Interactive Media Association (AIMIA), the Communications Council and the Media Federation (MFA), Adconian, Fairfax Digital, Google, Microsoft, News Digital Media, NineMSN, Sensis Digital Media and Yahoo!7.

A significant proportion of the online advertising industry are already signatories. Some companies already comply and exceed the requirements of the Guideline however there is a six month implementation phase for the industry to put in place arrangements.

What changes today?

There are going to be a number of changes that are going to be immediately noticeable to consumers. First there the www.youronlinechoices.com.au website is available now and provides lots of useful information about online behavioural advertising. Also many members of the Australian Digital Advertising Alliance will be doing their bit to promote the site and the launch of the Australian Best Practice Guidelines for Online Behavioural Advertising.

In addition there will be additional notice provided to consumers on websites where Third Party Online Behavioural Advertising occurs.

Consumers will have the ability to exercise their ad preferences through the www.youronlinechoices.com.au website.

There will also be additional consumer protections in place in relation to keeping OBA Data secure, the creation of sensitive market segments and a prohibition on creating OBA data segments for children under the age of 13.

Last but not least consumers will have a place where they can ask for more information, give feedback and raise concerns through the www.youronlinechoices.com.au website.

What do the Guidelines entail?

The Australian Best Practice Guidelines for Online Behavioural Advertising contain seven principles which introduce important consumer mechanisms and have been designed to build consumer confidence and trust in online behavioural adverting.

A summary of the seven principles follows:

I. Personal Information and Third Party OBA

Third Parties who want to combine OBA Data with Personal Information must treat the OBA Data as it if is Personal Information and in accordance with the Privacy Act.

II. Providing Clear Information to Users

Requirement to provide a clear notice for consumers about which data is collected, how it is collected and what it is used for.

III. User choice over OBA

Consumers to be able to make a choice as to whether or not they consent to the collection of data for OBA and given clear user-friendly options to manage their ad choices.

IV. Keeping Data Secure

Companies must ensure data is stored securely and is only kept as long as it fulfils a legitimate business need or as required by law.

V. Careful Handling of Sensitive Segmentation

OBA categories uniquely designed to target children under 13 will not be created.

Companies seeking to use OBA in relation to Sensitive Market Segments must obtain explicit consent.

VI. Educating Users

Companies to provide easily accessible, user-friendly information about OBA.

A consumer education website providing consumer friendly non-technical information on OBA has been developed by industry.

VII. Being Accountable

All businesses are accountable to uphold the principles in the Guideline, develop easily accessible mechanisms to consumers to lodge complaints directly to companies and commit to an ongoing review of the Guideline and its implementation.

To find out more information on the principles download the Australian Best Practice Guidelines.

How do I get more information?

If you want to know more about the Australian Best Practice Guideline for Online Behavioural Advertising or how to become a signatory email us.

What’s Next?

The introduction of the Australian Best Practice Guidelines for Online Behavioural Advertising and the www.youronlinechoices.com.au website is an important first step on a journey.

Now the Guideline is launched, the Australian Digital Advertising Alliance will be:

• Engaging in broader industry, consumer and Government consultation
• Developing an open, transparent and independently overseen industry wide complaint handling mechanism
• Reviewing the guideline and reviewing where necessary
• Developing an easily recognisable universal ICON which will be presented in or around Third Party Online Behavioural Ads

If you want to be involved, let us know

Download the Guideline.