US Democrats Aim for Ban on 'Surveillance Advertising'

In the US Congress, three Democrats have launched a privacy bill imposing a blanket ban on 'surveillance advertising', including the most common current forms of ad targeting.

The 'Banning Surveillance Advertising Act' has been drawn up Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-California), Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois) and Senator Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), and aims to ban the use of personal information to target ads: the latter includes any data that is 'reasonably linkable' to an individual or device, such as unique IDs, browsing activity and inferred data.

The bill goes much further than most previous attempts to limit targeting, and is supported by privacy watchdogs including Accountable Tech, the Center for Digital Democracy and Electronic Privacy Information Center, according to www.mediapost.com . The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) meanwhile says it will put millions of jobs at risk, damage small firms and raise prices for consumers.

Daniel Castro, Vice President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (part-funded by tech companies) told MediaPost the approach taken in the Bill was 'out of mainstream thoughts' and 'a very extreme proposal'.

Still allowed if the Bill becomes law would be contextual targeting of ads and some large area location-based advertising. The FTC and state attorneys general would prosecute violators, while consumers could sue for up to $5,000 per violation.

Katharina Kopp, Deputy Director for Policy at the Center for Digital Democracy, says the proposed law would see the rise of a new ad model which would be 'no longer predatory and harmful', and adds: 'there is little evidence that contextual advertising would be less effective than surveillance advertising. The proposed legislation would not ban online advertising, it would regulate how online advertising is done'.