Should benevolent advertisers
have access to your pillbox?

In a response to the FTC, the Network Advertising Initiative said behavioral ad targeting should not — and would not — take medical conditions into account.

The Federal Trade Commission has been seeking comment on proposed guidelines for self-regulation in behavioral ad targeting. The NAI admonished the FTC not to put too much weight on privacy concerns, since those must be balanced with what consumers gain from better targeted ads.

In a set of rules drafted by the NAI (pdf), terms related to certain highly sensitive health conditions or criminal behavior was omitted from data mining for behavioral tracking. The guidelines also prohibit targeting users under 13, since they are too young to opt in or understand the privacy implications of having their data collected.

Some advocacy groups say the NAI's proposals are unsustainable and amount to little more than a public relations ploy. In any case, the NAI's healthcare data protection clause mirrors salient concerns.

The Center for Digital Democracy recently filed its own response to the FTC, saying health-related terms must be excised from data mining for behavioral ads. It also called for an opt-in procedure.

The window for submitting input on the FTC's proposed guidelines closed last Friday.