The Washington Post has published an article describing a relatively new arena for behavioral advertising: your online bank statement.  Participating banks serve marketing to their customers based on the customer’s spending history.  These promotions may be particularly valuable to advertisers because they are targeted based on how a customer actually spends his or her money and because customers can take advantage of advertised discounts without printing out coupons — if you click the associated link, the advertiser will recognize your debit card the next time it is swiped. 

The banks and their advertising partners have defended against privacy concerns by pointing out that customers may opt out and noting that, because the ad software runs on the bank’s server, customer data need not leave the bank’s secure network.  The federal banking regulators have not yet chimed in on this practice.  The FTC’s recent draft report on consumer privacy suggests that the FTC is inclined to treat financial information as sensitive information, subject to an opt-in consent requirement for data practices that are not “commonly accepted.”  The draft report does not define financial information.

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Photo of Libbie Canter Libbie Canter

Libbie Canter represents a wide variety of multinational companies on managing privacy, cyber security, and artificial intelligence risks, including helping clients with their most complex privacy challenges and the development of governance frameworks and processes to comply with U.S. and global privacy laws.

Libbie Canter represents a wide variety of multinational companies on managing privacy, cyber security, and artificial intelligence risks, including helping clients with their most complex privacy challenges and the development of governance frameworks and processes to comply with U.S. and global privacy laws. She routinely supports clients on their efforts to launch new products and services involving emerging technologies, and she has assisted dozens of clients with their efforts to prepare for and comply with federal and state laws, including the California Consumer Privacy Act, the Colorado AI Act, and other state laws. As part of her practice, she also regularly represents clients in strategic transactions involving personal data, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence risk and represents clients in enforcement and litigation postures.

Libbie represents clients across industries, but she also has deep expertise in advising clients in highly-regulated sectors, including financial services and digital health companies. She counsels these companies — and their technology and advertising partners — on how to address legacy regulatory issues and the cutting edge issues that have emerged with industry innovations and data collaborations. 

Chambers USA 2024 ranks Libbie in Band 3 Nationwide for both Privacy & Data Security: Privacy and Privacy & Data Security: Healthcare. Chambers USA notes, Libbie is “incredibly sharp and really thorough. She can do the nitty-gritty, in-the-weeds legal work incredibly well but she also can think of a bigger-picture business context and help to think through practical solutions.”