New vendors and startups that exploit campaign data are destroying the trust among publishers, agencies, and marketers, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau. To stop this potentially damaging practice -- and avoid government legislation -- the IAB is calling for the industry to adopt standards and guidelines for the use of data collected during campaigns, ClickZ reports.
The topic of data regulation was a big issue at this week's annual IAB leadership meeting. Legislators have been investigating online privacy and data collection practices for the past year now, and advocacy groups have raced to develop self-regulation guidelines to avoid potential government involvement.
The data abuse issues begin when advertisers hire vendors for campaigns and grant them access to campaign data. Slimy vendors, in turn, are using that data to grow their own businesses, with little regard for who actually owns the data.
IAB members indicated that this is not a problem across the board, and many agencies work with brands and publishers to monitor who collects and uses the data gathered from online campaigns. The risk comes from smaller companies with little accountability. If those bad apples draw the attention of regulators, they could potentially damage the industry for everyone else.
