• by Mike Zaneis , October 3, 2014

You may have heard that IAB recently opened an office in San Francisco and placed their newly elevated associate general counsel and lead state lobbyist there, and for good reason. The biggest regulatory threats to our industry can often emanate not from Washington or Europe, but rather from the California state legislature. 

In fact, last year, California became the de facto national regulator of the Internet when it enacted AB 370 – California’s “Do Not Track” legislation. This bill updated the 2003 California Online Privacy Protection Act, which requires companies to disclose their privacy policies and information about how data is collected about them online, a reasonable form of consumer disclosure. However, the new language proposed in AB 370 would have expanded these notices to specifically require websites to inform consumers whether or not they “honor do-not-track signals”, an ambiguous technical browser signal that remains undefined in either legislation or industry standardization.

Worse yet, once a web publisher made a commitment to honor these signals, they would be subject to the whims of the various browser companies, which are free under the law to change the technical operation and public representation of what “do not track” means. Although IAB successfully amended the bill to mitigate the worst impacts, it demonstrates how quickly a bad idea can take root in a state legislature and have nationwide implications. 

The home of Silicon Valley and numerous tech companies, California is a key location for our industry. With a GDP of over $2 trillion, the California economy alone ranks as among the 10 largest in the world. In fact, according to IAB’s “Economic Value of the Advertising-Supported Internet Ecosystem” 2012 report, 128 interactive firms are headquartered in California, more than any other state. These companies employ 215,000 employees, second only to New York. With California playing such a leading role in interactive advertising, legislative action that takes place in the state could have a catastrophic influence on the rest of the industry. This is why IAB is redoubling its state advocacy efforts.

With all of this government involvement on issues affecting our industry, clearly there is a need for more advocacy in California from both a legislative and regulatory standpoint and we recognize that we cannot do this alone. We have an opportunity to help pave the future of how our businesses are governed in a state whose influence could affect policy on a national and global level. It is up to the entire industry to be involved.

Last year, U.S. interactive advertising revenues hit an all-time high of $42.8 billion in 2013, exceeding broadcast television advertising revenues for the first time ever. While a win for the industry, this increase in investment will only prove to shine the spotlight even more on our industry. We need to be prepared to educate when lawmakers come asking questions, especially as our tools and technologies continue to evolve. Digital media and marketing stakeholders must be involved in the myriad of policy decisions taking place across the country. Decision-making on a regional and statewide level in California could have profound effects on Internet businesses

To quote a favorite adage of yore – “Go West, young man” – at least where public policy is concerned. Capitol Hill still provides the main stage, but we ignore California at our own peril.