A controversial report on privacy and interactive television was a topic of discussion at the Association for Interactive Media’s (AIM) Dinner and a Deal Tuesday night in New York.
The report, by the Center for Digital Democracy, claimed that as interactive television is deployed, new technologies will allow marketers and cable companies to monitor the viewing habits of consumers, often without full disclosure.
Cable subscribers who sign up for ITV can get enhanced information about programming, click through to the Web to buy products and opt in to receive ads that are targeted to their interests. The report warns that while providing these services, cable companies will track consumers’ clicks and combine that data with personally identifiable information.
In an interview, Ben Isaacson executive director of New York-based AIM said that although the technology is available to handle data in this fashion, “no one is implementing it,” he said. “The CDD is complaining about a hypothetical situation that doesn’t yet exist.”
Isaacson added, “The Cable Communications Policy Act absolutely prohibits any cable company or contractor of that company from distributing or sharing any personally identifiable information with a third party, which includes advertisers and marketers.”
Most ITV services are in a test phase, Isaacson said. “Now, they only share aggregate data.”
An AIM group, the Addressable Media Coalition, this summer plans to release guidelines for companies in the ITV space to regulate themselves, Isaacson said.
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