The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (“OSTP”) is set to co-host a series of at least three public workshops to review “the implications of collecting, analyzing, and using” big data. The series continues the White House’s 2014 focus on privacy and big data, which began on January 17 with President Obama’s discussion of big data and U.S. intelligence programs more broadly at the Department of Justice. The announcement also comes one month after the White House appointed Counselor John Podesta to lead a “comprehensive review” of how big data affects how Americans “live and work,” “the relationship between government and citizens,” and “how public and private sectors can spur innovation and maximize the opportunities and free flow of this information while minimizing the risks to privacy.” The Podesta-led collaborative review will culminate in a report to the President, expected to be delivered in April 2014.Continue Reading White House Announces Three Workshops to Explore “Big Data”
Workshop
FTC Announces Workshop To Examine Native Ads
The Federal Trade Commission will host a workshop on December 4, 2013 in Washington, DC to examine so-called “native advertising.” This term refers to the practice of blending advertisements with news, entertainment, and other content in digital media and is sometimes also referred to as “sponsored content.” As an FTC blog post explains, “[w]hatever the name, it’s for sure ads in digital media are starting to look a lot more like the surrounding content. What are the consumer protection implications now that those lines appear to be blurring?”
According to the Commission, the workshop builds on previous Commission initiatives, such as the Dot Com Disclosures guidance and the Endorsements and Testimonials guidance, to “help ensure that consumers can identify advertisements as advertising wherever they appear.” The FTC noted a number of questions and topics that may be covered at the workshop, including:
- What is the origin and purpose of the wall between regular content and advertising, and what challenges do publishers face in maintaining that wall in digital media, including in the mobile environment?
- In what ways are paid messages integrated into, or presented as, regular content and in what contexts does this integration occur? How does it differ when paid messages are displayed within mobile apps and on smart phones and other mobile devices?
Continue Reading FTC Announces Workshop To Examine Native Ads
FTC Schedules December 6 Workshop On Data Collection By Large Platform Providers
The Federal Trade Commission has announced that it will host a public workshop on December 6 to discuss the privacy issues raised by the collection of data about consumers’ online activities by so-called large platform providers. According to the scheduling notice, the FTC seeks to explore the potential privacy issues raised by the collection of…
What Happened at the FTC Advertising and Privacy Workshop? (Part 1 of 2)
Yesterday, the FTC held a public workshop titled “In Short: Advertising & Privacy Disclosures in a Digital World.” The workshop explored whether and how the FTC should revise its 2000 guidance concerning advertising and privacy disclosures in the new era of online and mobile technology.
This post will highlight the morning workshop sessions on usability research, cross-platform advertising disclosures, and social media advertising disclosures. A second post will recap the afternoon’s discussions on mobile advertising and privacy disclosures.Continue Reading What Happened at the FTC Advertising and Privacy Workshop? (Part 1 of 2)