Ad Associations Urge National Privacy Law

In the US, ad industry bodies have urged Congress to pass a national privacy law overriding state laws such as California's recent Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The group complain that the nation's policy in the area 'is being shaped by Europe and a single state'.

The Privacy for America group was established earlier this year and comprises US ad sector organisations the IAB, ANA, 4As and the Network Advertising Initiative.

California's law, due to take effect next month, uses a broad definition of 'personal information' including that which could potentially be linked to households or individuals, including cookies, persistent identifiers, browsing history and IP addresses; while a new law in Maine and a proposal this week by Democrats in the Senate also take things further than the advertiser group would like.

According to www.mediapost.com , Privacy for America wants Congress to ban some practices, including using data to discriminate based on race or religion, or to reject applicants for insurance, jobs, housing or credit; and the collection of 'the most sensitive types' of personal information including medical financial or biometric data, without individuals' express consent. Strict laws should govern the sharing of other types of personal information with third parties, although this is unlikely to include 'pseudonymous' identifiers which do not include people's names, according to the publication.