MPs call for stricter regulation of behavioural advertising

MPs and Lords have called for a change in the law to make it illegal to engage in behavioural advertising without an internet user's explicit consent. The Parliamentary group has also backed the creation of a privacy law.

The call comes just days after consumer regulator the Office of Fair Trading said that it would be carrying out an investigation into whether behavioural advertising is unfair to consumers.

The All Party Parliamentary Communications Group (ApComms) said the internet advertising industry's self-regulation on behavioural advertising was inadequate, and that a law change was necessary.

"We do not believe that it is at all appropriate to consider the deployment of any type of behavioural advertising system without explicit, informed, 'opt-in' by everyone whose data is to be processed, and whose behaviour is to be monitored and whose interests are to be deduced," said ApComms in a report on its findings.

"We do not believe that 'opt-out', however commercially convenient, is the way that these systems should be run. To that extent, the Good Practice Principles promoted by the Internet Advertising Bureau are insufficient to protect people," it said.