Senator asks the FTC to investigate AdBlock for alleged privacy law violation

guest · Jan 14, 2020

Senator asks the FTC to investigate AdBlock for alleged privacy law violation
The 'Acceptable Ads' whitelist is under fire again
January 14, 2020
https://www.techspot.com/news/83548...-ftc-investigate-adblock-alleged-privacy.html

The Acceptable Ads program's stated goal is to improve the quality of advertising throughout the web. It aims to do this by laying out a few specific standards that participating advertisements must follow.
If a company's advertisements meet that criteria and the firm offers AdBlock Plus' owners a nice payout (according to one Democratic senator -- more on that in a minute), the ads can be added to the Acceptable Ads whitelist.

In October of 2015, AdBlock Plus opened up its Acceptable Ads program to competing extensions. On the same day, AdBlock (one such competitor) revealed that it had been sold to an "anonymous buyer," and that it would be joining the Acceptable Ads program.
Democratic Senator Ron Wyden believes that AdBlock's sale and subsequent Acceptable Ads participation represents a "likely [violation]" of federal law.

According to him, when AdBlock automatically enrolled its users in the Acceptable Ads program without acquiring consent, it probably broke the FTC's rules on privacy policy changes.

"The FTC has made it clear that when one company buys another and "change[s] the privacy promises already made to consumers, [the buyer will] need to inform consumers and get their express affirmative consent to opt in to your new practices," Wyden writes. He goes on to claim that AdBlock's decision opened up users to tracking and targeting.
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Senator asks the FTC to investigate AdBlock for alleged privacy law violation

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