Warns agency about California privacy law, EU data framework

The Association of National Advertisers wants the Federal Trade Commission to keep in mind the "critical importance" of data-driven marketing when it starts to consider data privacy and sharing issue.

Association execs are also meeting with FTC chair Joseph Simons and the other commissions to make their point in person, according to ANA.

Advertisers also want the FTC to drill down on "restrictive" laws like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the EU's General Data Privacy Regs (GDPR) it says which it says have put the U.S. and internet economies under an "unwarranted threat."

Those comments. lodged with the FTC, came in advance of a months-long series of hearings at the agency on competition and consumer protection enforcement in the digital age, hearings set to begin Sept. 13.

"New laws like the CCPA, and calls to adopt an EU-like approach based on the GDPR in the United States, are anything but well-reasoned and calibrated to promote growth and competition while preserving consumer transparency and control over data practices."

ANA suggested that no major revamp of competition or privacy enforcement is needed and that the FTC should just keep on keeping on. "The U.S. privacy framework is effective," it said. "The existing combination of sectoral laws, designed to address specific, concrete harms, complemented with enforceable self-regulatory codes of conduct, has proven to be a successful means of advancing innovation while providing consumers with transparency and control over data collection and use."

In the wake of the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica data sharing fiasco, fake news and data breaches, both sides of the aisle have talked about the need for stronger government oversight of data collection and sharing, while industry players like ANA point out that it is targeted advertising that supports the free content model on which the 'net has flourished.