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This EU-commissioned report--"Assessment of Young people's exposure to alcohol marketing in audiovisual and online media" analyzes the role of Facebook and other social media.  It was written by Rand Europe (and CDD is cited, among many others).

Today's missive from the Direct Marketing Association--along with the Chamber of Commerce, advertising, marketing, and TV lobby groups--urging the FTC to delay for months much-needed children's safeguards reveals an industry that has been engaged in behaviorally profiling and digitally stalking kids online (that's what retargeting is--you are stalked from site to site--and now platform (computer) to platform (mobile) as well.
 

Second in a series from leading U.S. privacy and consumer NGOs on the failure of U.S. law and regulation to protect privacy.

A series of the failure of U.S. privacy policies to protect consumers. The first paper was written by CDD on the failure of self-regulation.  The second was written by the ACLU and Friends of Privacy, USA.

The Direct Marketing Association has not played a positive role in the debate over privacy.  For example, it (absurdly) has worked to exempt all the forms of data collection marketers do from the proposed Do Not Track safeguard.   As it plans for its big Washington, DC conference, look at how it frames the problem:
 

As part of the comprehensive system of commercial surveillance tracking us 24/7 wherever we go and do, more companies are integrating offline and purchasing data with online information.  But when the largest commercial database of individuals around the world marries its user data with the ton of consumer records held by Acxiom, Epsilon, Bluekai and

CDD has obtained a Yahoo! lobbying document being given to EU policymakers.  Yahoo! is working to undermine pending legislative proposals that would significantly strengthen the rights EU citizens have regarding the collection and use of their information.  Entiled "Yahoo!

Digital marketing, including data collection, profiling, tracking and targeting, pervades the Internet experience.  One of the less-discussed areas is the targeting of individuals because of their race or ethnicity.   As CDD's new report discusses, multicultural groups are "In the Digital Bullseye," with online advertisers and others focused on reaching African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans and others.  Data collected on each of us can include our financial status, health concerns, location, spending habits--and also ethnicity and race.  Multic

The Better Business Bureau is a member of the Digital Advertising Alliance (DMA, IAB, 4As, ANA).  Yet they are responsible somehow for evaluating how companies comply with the icon-based privacy program adopted by the commercial data marketing industry.  We have raised concerns about the efficacy of the icon.  The BBB just approved Facebook's use of the icon for its far-reaching data targeting system known as the Facebook Exchange.  Already barely viewable, the tiny icons are to be used by Facebook via a

The report released today by the Federal Trade Commission analyzing expenditures by food and beverage marketers to target both children and teens shows a dramatic increase in the use of digital marketing.  According to the report, "spending on new media, such as online, mobile, and viral marketing, increased by 50%."  The report also underscored how young people are the target of "integrated" campaigns, pursued across the "