On Friday, Yahoo! launched Ad Choices to help users understand online ads that are displayed to them on the Yahoo! network and to allow users to manage their advertising options. Ad Choices launches ahead of the May 25th deadline imposed by legislation from the EU for websites to provide for an ‘opt-out’ option from cookies and other online tracking used for advertising, among other data collection activities. Yahoo! is the first UK company to launch such an effort well in advance of May 25.
Big Brother Watch has long advocated for industry lead ideas and solutions for privacy issues. Yahoo!’s Ad Choices is a strong first step in this direction. In addition to Yahoo!, however, the Internet Advertising Bureau has put together a site called your online choices which provides information and FAQs on everything from privacy to cookies to online advertising. This is also an excellent step in the right direction as it brings information together from industry and industry partners and demonstrates how industry can lead the way in determining their own regulatory future.
Yahoo!’s Ad Choices is not without its critics. Paolo Balboni of the European Privacy Association is quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying that the Yahoo-type idea "is in the right direction but maybe not as transparent as it could be regarding the average user.” And the European Commission will take a good look at if solutions to the EU Privacy implementation go far enough.
As the May 25th deadline approaches, it looks unlikely that any of the EU member states will have implemented fully the EU Privacy Directive, however, if Yahoo! can deliver such a solution there will be others following suit.
Just use Adblock Plus with Firefox and you'll never see any ads again anyway.
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