Telecompaper

The largest media and marketing associations in the US have jointly released self-regulatory principles to protect consumer privacy in ad-supported interactive media, the Interactive Advertising Bureau said. The principles stipulate advertisers and website should clearly inform consumers about data collection practices and enable them to exercise control over that information. The collaboration represents the entire marketing-media industry and includes the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A's), the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Council of Better Business Bureaus (BBB), a organization dedicated to advancing marketplace trust. The self-regulatory programme is expected to be implemented at the beginning of next year. Taken collectively, the participating associations represent more than 5,000 leading US companies across all of the key businesses that have played a role in the transformation of the way consumers experience media. An IAB study showed that the ad-supported internet represents 2.1 percent of total US GDP and contributes USD 300 billion to the economy, creating 3.1 million US jobs.T