Keeping digital advertising within the law EFCCE Conference May, Paris LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training

From www to web April 1993: CERN put the www in public domain Today: web 2.0 Tomorrow: semantic web 3.0 LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training

Web 2.0 LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training

Web 2.0 LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training

Web 3.0 Semantic web: pushing the boundaries of search and intelligent text filtering LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training 60.8%14%3.5% Of all global searches in 2007

Advertising funds services LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training

Search marketing income LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training

Online display ads Display – Rich media (animated ads such as pop ups or floating, video) – Sponsorship – Banners, skyscrapers… Targeted advertising: Less in quantity Better adapted to consumer taste LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training

Online display ads LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training

Are there global rules? 1999 OECD guidelines for consumer protection in electronic commerce: – No deceptive, misleading or unfair practices – Advertising & marketing should be clearly identifiable as such LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training

Vulnerability...take special care in advertising or marketing targeted at children the elderly or seriously ill…

Misleadingness & EU law 2005 Unfair Commercial Practices directive bans: –any form of commercial communication which cannot be clearly recognised as advertising (considered a misleading & unfair practice) LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training

Misleadingness & EU law –Examples: Content integration: commercial or paid-for branded content included within editorial content without explaining that commercial or branded content is advertorial, Placing branded video or other content on popular networking websites without disclosing that the person posting the content acts as a brand ambassador Seeding positive messages about a brand in blogs, in a manner implying you are a simple member of the public… LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training

Targeted online ads How does it function? The cookie connection: – Cookies are strings of html text – Placed on our computer via a specific website – Can register the sites we visit showing banners relating to specific campaign, for example Raise issues of privacy LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training

Global privacy rules 1948 UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article XII: – No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training

Global privacy rules 1980 OECD guidelines for the protection of privacy – Definition: personal data is any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual – Companies should : Limit the data collected to what is relevant for the intended use Establish privacy policies Ensure safety of collected data LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training

Global privacy rules Person whose data is being collected should be given: – Identity of company collecting data, – Purpose of data collection, – Right to access collected data, – Right to modify or have his data deleted. LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training

Privacy & EU law Collection & use of personal data –Strictly regulated by 1995 Data Protection directive & 2002 directive on Privacy in E-communications Person whose data is being collected must receive following information: –Identity of company collecting data, –Purpose of data collection, –Who will be given access to data, –Right to access collected data, –Right to refuse data collection. EU law applies to all non-EU companies placing cookies or spyware on computers in EU LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training

Privacy issues Consumers lack understanding of their data being collected Privacy policies often unclear Right to access or refuse data collection: not visible Vulnerability of children LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training

Children’s privacy protection No specific law in the EU In the US, since 2002: the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) – Allows collection of personal data from children under 13, only with express agreement of their parents – But, application is voluntary and interpretation is approximative LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training

For social networking sites Example UK: – Ofcom research: Despite the fact that the minimum age for most major social networking sites is usually 13 (14 on MySpace), 27% of 8-11 year olds who are aware of social networking sites say they have a profile on a site LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training Children’s privacy protection

Privacy issues UK Home Office guidelines: – recommend measures to block child sex offenders from having access to social networking sites – providers of social networking services should ensure that advertising on their sites is appropriate for the likely audience and legal LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training

Children’s privacy protection Social networking sites (MySpace, Youtube) – Are adopting voluntary measures to block access to known paedophiles – Not allow younger members to make their profiles public – Mediate content & access LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training

What if? Current discussions on “inappropriate” advertising on social networking sites could spill over to other community sites (Youtube) Ask for application of rules applied to all other media – Ex: UK content rules for food marketing to children (no use of cartoon characters) could be applied to the Youtube Skittles ad – which would then be illegal LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training

The future in questions It will largely depend on industry’s responsible behaviour how legislators will be dealing with online advertising LHC Building Blocks - Media Law Training