July 6, 2009

What is Old is New Again--Another Set of Self Regulatory Principles

For several years self regulation was the buzz phrase for consumer oriented industries. The problem is self regulation has not worked. Consumers are not savvy enough or empowered enough to enforce their rights, while industry creates rules that are not in the consumers interest and that they are unable or unwilling to enforce on themselves. When self regulation is about privacy protection the challenges are even greater. The most recent installment on self regulation was offered by Internet advertisers. The one ray of hope for consumers is that these efforts are most often spurred by a fear that the FTC is poised to act.

Four Privacy Protections the Online Ad Industry Left Out, Saul Hansell, New York Times, Blog, July 6, 2009