ASA begins oversight of new online behavioural advertising rules

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) will be responsible for monitoring compliance and for handling complaints about potential breaches of the rules, which set standards of transparency for advertising networks and other 'third parties' around their use of OBA.

The ASA said, though, that privacy watchdog the Information Commissioner will be "responsible for looking into complaints about the issue of consent, e.g. around the placement of cookies on a computer’s web browser".

Publishers and advertising networks use 'cookies' to track user behaviour on websites and use the information they glean to display adverts based on the apparent interests of those users.

Under the new rules, which were set out by the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) last year, 'third parties' must provide internet users with an element of control that enables them to "opt out" from having their online activity tracked for OBA purposes.

A third party is defined, under the new rules, as "an organisation that engages in OBA (i.e. collects and uses web viewing behaviour data for the purposes of OBA) via websites other than those that it or an entity with which it is under common control owns or operates".

Under the new rules third parties must publish "a clear and comprehensive notice" on their website that explains the "collection and use of web viewing behaviour data for the purposes of OBA". The notice must also explain to internet users that they have the right to "opt out" from being tracked for OBA purposes. The notice should also contain a link to the "relevant mechanism" through which users can exercise their right to opt out.

In addition, the third party organisations are required to publish a similar notice outlining that they are involved in "collecting and using web viewing behaviour data for the purposes of OBA, either in or around" in the OBA-delivered ad itself. That notice should also contain a link through to where individuals can opt out.

The rules also prohibit third parties from creating "interest segments" that are "specifically designed for the purpose of targeting OBA to children aged 12 or under".

Furthermore, if third parties use "technology to collect and use information about all or substantially all websites that are visited by web users on a particular computer in order to deliver OBA to that computer" they must obtain the "explicit consent" of web users "before doing so".

The ASA said that it will deal with complaints relating to the "transparency and control of OBA".

"The new rules will provide greater awareness of and control over OBA, demystifying how advertisers deliver more relevant ads to us and allowing those of us who object to say 'stop'," ASA chief executive Guy Parker said in a statement. "We’ll be there to make sure that the ad networks stick to the rules."

The new OBA rules do not apply to "contextual advertising; web analytics; ad reporting or ad delivery; the collection and use of information for behavioural advertising by web site operators on their own website(s) or the use of OBA in rich media, in-stream videos online or on mobile devices," according to CAP.

The regime is built on a self-regulatory framework that has already been established in Europe by the advertising industry.

The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) Europe set up a voluntary code that requires businesses sign up to display an icon if they use adverts that track users' behaviour. If users click on the icon they are taken to a website that will enable them to switch off behavioural adverts delivered by companies that use the icon.

Under the voluntary code website operators must also give users access to an easy method for turning off cookie tracking on their own site, and must make it known to users that they collect data on them for behavioural advertising. Websites adhering to the rules also have to publish details of how they collect and use data, including whether personal or sensitive personal data is involved. Details of which advertisers or groups of advertisers they make the data available to also have to be published.