Washington – The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Tuesday
announced that it has settled a complaint against behavioral advertising firm
Chitika, which it alleged had deceived consumers who believed they had
opted-out of its services.
The FTC said consumers who proactively opted-out of
Chitika’s Web cookies found that the opt-out only lasted ten days, at which
point the company would re-install a tracking cookie on their browsers.
The FTC
thus deemed Chitika’s claim that consumers could opt-out of its tracking to be
deceiving.
Under terms of the settlement, which contains no financial penalties,
Chitika must include a link on every targeted ad it displays that takes
consumers to a clear opt-out mechanism — which must opt them out for a period
of at least five years.
PaidContent noted that companies that have signed onto
a voluntary online privacy in advertising program, the National Advertising
Initiative, must promise to provide an opt-out period of at least five years as
well.
Related Links:
http://ftc.gov/opa/2011/03/chitika.shtm
http://tinyurl.com/4bugdao (Chitika statement)
http://tinyurl.com/4zmk93w
(PaidContent)
