With 2011 quickly coming to a close, TRUSTe, a leading online privacy solutions provider, recently unveiled its online privacy predictions for 2012. As online businesses grew in 2011 – through innovative technologies in advertising, cloud services and mobile apps – the call for online privacy rang loudly and repeatedly throughout the industry. TRUSTe predicts continued volatility in 2012, but also sees numerous opportunities for businesses to provide consumers with enhanced transparency, accountability and choice in the coming year. TRUSTe’s privacy predictions for 2012 cover a wide array of topics, including: location-based technology; emerging European regulations; the FTC and third party tracking; and privacy solutions for the fast-growing mobile market.
“With the collection and usage of consumer data spreading like wildfire across a myriad of emerging online businesses, 2011 was a year of extraordinary change for online privacy,” said Chris Babel, CEO of TRUSTe. “Along with the excitement about the potential of innovative online technologies, the industry was also forced to address both trepidation and concern for the safety and respect of consumers’ personal privacy. TRUSTe is pleased to share some of our privacy expectations for the New Year.”
Leveraging its unique vantage point, TRUSTe projects the following events in the year ahead.
Click through for seven privacy predictions for 2012, identified by TRUSTe.
TRUSTe predicts that companies will start to be held accountable for tracking conducted by third parties on their sites. The time is now to comply with industry self-regulation and give consumers notice and choice over third-party tracking activities.
With mobile traffic accounting for 14.3 percent of Black Friday 2011 online retail traffic, mobile self-regulatory guidelines for notice and choice regarding online behavioral advertising (OBA) and tracking will be here in force by next holiday season. To succeed, companies must implement a mobile privacy solution now and offer customers a policy optimized for display on mobile devices.
Companies will conclude that they need to hire people with in-depth privacy backgrounds to deal with increasingly complex privacy regulations, as well as emerging marketing programs like targeted advertising.
TRUSTe foresees innovative usages of location-based technology that will make national headlines, for example, crime solving (e.g., finding a missing child) or instigating a political downfall (use your imagination).
TRUSTe predicts an 80 percent chance that 2012 is the year that U.S. companies must follow EU countries’ individual privacy standards when doing business in Europe. It’s no longer ‘business as usual’ for Yanks abroad.
TRUSTe predicts continued FTC action establishing de facto privacy rules through consent orders but believes the passage of comprehensive privacy legislation by Congress is unlikely. The FTC has prosecuted an average of around 10 privacy cases each year, and more can be expected in 2012. Companies must abide by regulatory requirements or risk prosecution.
Additionally, TRUSTe shares a couple of long shots in its 2012 online privacy predictions, including:
- Presidential candidate announces plans for new post – Secretary of Online Privacy
- Fortune 500 company announces multi-billion dollar market cap hit tied to privacy snafu
