European ePrivacy Directive

Ten countries have passed the European ePrivacy Directive, including the UK, France, Ireland, Sweden and Finland. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) gave the industry a 12-month enforcement extension which expires on 26th May 2012. In response, the IAB Europe has published a self regulation framework for online behavioral advertising (OBA) based on seven principles identified by Direct Commerce magazine as:

1.    Notice
2.    User choice
3.    Data security
4.    Sensitive segmentation
5.    Education
6.    Compliance and enforcement
7.    Review

Notes Stuart Colman, European managing director of AudienceScience, a digital marketing technology company, author of the Direct Commerce article: "The framework sees the introduction of the 'enhanced notice icon,' which will need to be shown on or near any online advert that has used behavioural targeting or when third parties are collecting data on a website. By clicking on it, users will be able to see a clear notice describing data collection and usage, and also link to the new site, www.youronlinechoices.eu to manage their privacy preferences."