This past week, the FTC released a report concerning finding the balance between online innovation and online consumer privacy. The biggest news from this report was their proposed “do not track” mechanism for Web browsers, because of how greatly this could affect the online experience, both for online advertisers obviously, but for users as well.
Now, it’s not as though the FTC doesn’t recognize the positive value that first-party Internet clients have with consumers. In their studies, they clearly separate the collection and view of this data by first-party relationships as a commonly accepted practice. But the FTC’s concerns for privacy could still affect them. Especially if their proposed ideas become some sort of mandate. Capping the frequency of how many times an ad can be displayed to one user. Making sure your online ad complies with geographic and international law. And more.
All seem easy. None seem like much of an overreach. All geared toward providing transparency and protection to the consumer. But the industry will likely try and figure out a way of implementing these in a way where they will still be allowed to regulate themselves, rather than be put under the control of some national thumb.