• Ad Age, New York Times, Wednesday, May 5, 2010 10:28 AM

Consumer advocates and online marketers have concerns about the draft of a bill that is intended to protect digital privacy, Edmund Lee reports. The proposed bill, crafted by Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., requires Web publishers to alert users about how their information is being collected, what it is being used for, who else it is being sent to and how long it is kept. They must also offer a clear way for consumers to opt-out.

"Some of the definitions around what is considered personally identifiable information are overly broad," according to Mike Zaneis, vp of public policy for the Interactive Advertising Bureau. And Linda Woolley, evp of government affairs for the Direct Marketing Association, is worried that the legislation may have implications for the offline marketing world.

In the New York Times, Stephanie Clifford reports that some privacy and consumer groups believe the draft contains loopholes that might let companies track consumers too closely. Advocates are also disappointed that the approach relies on a privacy policy, which they maintain too few people read.

For his part, Boucher says that the bill models "the best business practices that exist among the most consumer-oriented companies today."

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