Struan Robertson writes:
OPINION: The OFT has endorsed the UK ad industry’s self-regulation of behavioural advertising. But its conclusion was based in part on a curious reading of consumer protection regulations, coupled with research that departs from similar studies.
The Office of Fair Trading is the Government’s consumer and competition authority. That it sees no need for Government regulation in behavioural advertising is great news for online publishers and advertisers. In my view, that is good for consumers too, because it helps to keep content free.
The biggest change demanded in the report is that ads selected according to someone’s browsing behaviour should be labelled. That’s a sensible step, and one that UK trade body the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) was taking already.
What surprised me more was another, less significant feature of the report: the OFT says that viewing a website is a transactional decision for the purposes of the Consumer Protection (Unfair Trading) Regulations, known as the CPRs.
Read more on Out-Law.com