The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has issued guidance on new rules regarding Online Behavioural Advertising (OBA) which take effect on February 4 2013 which website operators and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will need to be familiar.
This is particularly important for website operators who advertise in UK where the new rules principally apply, including (since the Island is a “White Listed” country) gambling websites.
OBA is a form of targeted advertising in which advertising networks and other third parties partner with websites from whom they collect data on users’ web viewing behaviour in order to target them with advertising, by placing a “cookie” on the user’s web browser.
The new rules aim to secure transparency and control for web users in the use of OBA by requiring third parties to provide notice to web users, in or around online display advertisements, that they are undertaking OBA eg through an icon in the corner of the display advertisement.
The rules require that third parties must not only provide notice in the advertisement but ensure that it links to a mechanism whereby the user can opt out of the collection and use of their web viewing behaviour for OBA purposes.
Read the full article here: Online Behavioural Advertising