Have advertisers become disconnected with their online ad campaigns? According to the chief of Internet Bureau in the Office of New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer, Ken Dreifach, the answer is an alarming and resounding “yes,” and if online advertisers are not careful they could be held just as responsible as the deceptive and fraudulent third parties they may be unknowingly tied to.
This was a topic discussed at a recent IAPP-TRUSTe KnowledgeNet in New York City. Dreifach’s talk was called “Spyware, Spam, and Other Online Marketing Pitfalls,” and gave an overview of the habit that advertisers have of neglecting the marketing campaigns they hire others to do for them. In other words, advertisers have failed to keep tabs on the marketing initiatives that they ask publishers to handle on their behalf.
In some cases, advertisers might actually turn a blind eye to questionable methods used by the third parties they pay, assuming that the techniques they practice are outside of their realm of responsibility. Dreifach pointed out that this is a dangerous assumption, because if dishonest actions are taken by a third party to the benefit of middlemen and the advertiser, the advertiser can be held responsible along with the third party that actually carried out the questionable practices.
Dubious actions that a third party may take include violating the advertiser’s privacy policy or sending ads to a consumer through spyware that is downloaded onto their computer without their consent. Contrary to popular belief, just saying that the third party acted as an independent contractor or was not told to take the actions in question will not get the advertiser off the hook. According to Dreifach, if the third party is “more or less doing what you told them to do,” then under New York law, the advertiser may be held accountable for the fraudulent actions taken.
Furthermore, a large gap created by a large number of intermediaries between the online advertiser and the third party that actually acts deceptively will not guarantee a buffer for the advertiser to rely on for their safety.
Dreifach’s simple suggestion in regards to avoiding this pitfall is to perform due diligence. This means that advertisers should take on a more active role in overseeing the actions taken by the advertising agents they hire to carry out their marketing initiatives, making sure that they are not gathering consumer information that they should not be gathering, and that the ads are being conveyed through acceptable means.
Source:
http://www.truste.org/articles/responsible_advertisers.php
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