Frequently Asked Questions about the Digital Advertising Alliance and Its Consumer Choice Tools

For answers to frequent questions about the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) self-regulatory program, interest-based advertising and other applicable uses of Web viewing data, and how the DAA Consumer Choice Page works, please visit the following FAQ topic areas:

If you are experiencing issues with the functionality of the DAA Choice Page (opt out page), please visit the Help section.

About The DAA Program

What is the DAA Self-Regulatory Program?

The Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) establishes and enforces responsible privacy practices across industry for relevant digital advertising, providing consumers with enhanced transparency and control.   Through multifaceted Principles that apply to data gathered from a particular device in either the desktop or mobile environments, the DAA program addresses practices for multi-site data collection and use generally, as well as other platform-specific practices.

The DAA is an independent, non-profit organization led by the leading advertising and marketing trade associations, including the Association of National Advertisers, the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the Direct Marketing Association, the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the American Advertising Federation, and the Network Advertising Initiative, in consultation with the Council of Better Business Bureaus.

To What Data Collection and Use Practices Does the DAA Program Apply?

The DAA has issued the following Principles and related Guidance:

The DAA’s Principles apply to interest-based advertising (sometimes called online behavioral advertising) and other applicable uses of Web viewing and application data collected from a particular computer or device over time and across different, unaffiliated Web sites and apps. For interest-based advertising, the applicable Principles address the areas of education, transparency, consumer control, data security, changes to existing policies, sensitive data, and accountability. The DAA’s Principles also address certain platform-specific practices, such as transparency and control for data collected across different, unaffiliated applications, and precise location data from a particular mobile device.

About Interest-Based Advertising

What is interest-based advertising?

Interest-based advertising -- which is also sometimes called "online behavioral advertising" -- uses information gathered about your visits over time and across different websites or applications in order to help predict your preferences and show you ads that are more likely to be of interest to you. For example, a sporting goods manufacturer might work with an advertising network that collects and uses interest-based advertising information to deliver ads to the browsers of users that have recently visited sports-related sites, or an airline might direct ads to users that recently visited mobile travel apps.

How does interest-based advertising work?

When a user visits a web site or app that participates in an advertising network or works with other online advertising companies, these advertising companies gather information about the user’s browser or device in order to tell when that same user browser or device visits other web sites or apps within the same network - even if these content offerings are run by different companies or have different web addresses or brands. Over time, the information gathered about the browser or device may help predict the user’s likely interest in particular categories of ads: for example, users who frequently visit baseball-related Web sites might receive more ads for the “baseball/sports enthusiast” category, or users who engage with automobile review apps might receive more ads for the particular models of cars that interest them.

What are the benefits of interest-based advertising for me?

The most important benefit of interest-based advertising is the free Internet itself. Many non-subscription websites and online services rely on this type of advertising for revenue, so they do not have to charge users. Every time you check the news or the weather online, scan your favorite gossip site or political blog, or watch a popular TV show or music video on your computer, you are seeing the consumer benefits of online advertising at work.

Put another way, advertising is the financial engine that powers most of the free websites online, and interest-based advertising is a significant part of that economic model. Without interest-based advertising, some free websites and services might have to start charging their users, and others would not be able to continue delivering innovative online services.

There’s another benefit of interest-based advertising for users as well: better ads. When advertisers use interest-based advertising tools, you get ads that are more interesting, relevant, and useful to you. If you’re a college student, for example, you might be more interested in seeing ads for spring break destinations than for retirement homes. If you like baseball, you might want a ticket offer to a home game and not to the ballet. Those relevant ads improve the online experience and help users find the things that interest them more easily.

What types of information do companies use to advertise to me online?

In addition to interest-related information, online advertising companies may use information about users' general location, such as their city or zip code, so that they can market products of most interest to a particular region (snow shovels to residents of northern states, for example), or help local advertisers reach their customers.

Advertising companies may also use demographic information, like age, gender, or occupation provided during registration for a site, or they can attempt to infer such information based on the general demographics of visitors to a particular site. They may separately use the data they have collected online to make additional predictions about users’ interests or backgrounds, or they may combine their data with related information from other sources.

A typical set of information associated with a user's web browser might include:

  • Gender: Male
  • Age Range: 25-34
  • Location: Washington DC metro area
  • Interested in baseball
  • Interested in travel to Europe
  • Car Shopper

Some advertising companies give users access to the categories of information associated with users’ browsers, so users can edit that information to make it more useful and accurate.

How can I learn more about online advertising and how it works?

There are some online tutorials and educational materials on the online advertising “ecosystem” and how it works, which you can review on aboutads.info educational page.

What are cookies and how are they used in online advertising?

Cookies are small pieces of text that are placed in your browser by the websites you visit and the advertising companies and content partners for those sites. Only the website or ad company that sets a cookie can read it later. You can use the preferences in your browser to view and control the cookies you have.

Cookies help websites remember visitors when they return to the site. For example, a cookie can help a website remember your computer's location, so it can show your local news or weather when you return, or it can remind a video site that you’ve already registered, so you don’t have to sign in again each time you visit. In short, cookies are used to customize websites for you based on the preferences you’ve chosen and through predictions about the type of content that might interest you.

In the advertising world, cookies are used in many different ways. Online advertising companies use cookies to help deliver ads and track their performance. Cookies provide information about how many times an advertisement has been seen, which browsers have received it, and what sites were being visited when it appeared. They can also help predict which type of advertisements might be of interest to groups of users in the future and help advertising companies recognize the browsers of users in that group so that these ads can be delivered to them.

What can I do if I don’t want to receive interest-based advertising?

You can opt out of receiving interest-based advertising from the companies participating in the DAA program’s Consumer Choice page, which is available in versions for desktop and mobile browsers.  DAA also offers a separate choice tool for the collection of cross-app data on a mobile device for interest-based advertising and other applicable uses. To exercise choice for companies participating in this choice tool, you can install the DAA’s AppChoices app. Some companies participating in the DAA may also provide profile management tools.  Please follow the company link from the Consumer Choice pages to explore those tools.

After you opt out using DAA-provided choice tools, the participating companies will no longer collect and use information about activity on your browser or devices for the purpose of interest-based advertising or any other applicable data practice covered by the DAA Principles. They may, however, continue to serve online advertising on the pages or apps you visit that is not dependent on information about your online interests. Learn more.

Browsers and mobile operating systems also provide other privacy mechanisms. We encourage you to review the privacy control settings available in your browser or device platforms settings.  Note that some of these controls (such as blocking third party cookies) may impede the storage of your opt out preferences.

How do the DAA Principles address interest-based advertising?

With respect to interest-based advertising, the DAA’s Self-Regulatory Principles cover the areas of education, transparency, consumer control, data security, changes to existing policies, sensitive data, and accountability.

The program requires advertising companies to clearly inform consumers about their data collection practices and to enable consumers to exercise control over the types of interest-based ads they see. This website – aboutads.info – and AppChoices serve as central elements of that Program by offering consumers the ability to exercise choice from participating companies through a consistent, simple user experience.

What is the DAA Icon and what does it tell me about interest-based advertising?

A major element of the DAA Program is the creation and broad adoption of a clickable “icon” to be placed on or near online advertisements (or on Web pages or in apps) that links users to information about interest-based advertising, and that identifies advertising companies involved in serving such ads and describes their data collection practices. The icon should also link users to a choice mechanism they can use to notify advertising companies about whether they wish to opt out of future interest-based advertising.

If you click on the icon on or near an online or in-app ad, you will learn more about the ad and your interest-based advertising choices.

Does the program limit the sharing of information between online advertising companies?

Yes. One goal of this program is to better explain the process and to identify the companies that are involved in the distribution of interest-based advertising to users through tools like a clickable icon inside or near the ad you view, and a choice mechanism enabling you to opt out of future interest-based advertising. In addition, the Program seeks to ensure that if you opt out of having your information used for interest-based advertising, information about your likely interests will no longer be shared with other companies.

How does the program limit the uses of sensitive information for interest-based advertising?

Companies participating in this Program agree not to use specific types of sensitive health or financial data, such as financial account numbers, medical records, pharmaceutical prescriptions, or Social Security numbers about a specific individual for interest-based advertising without consent. The DAA program will continue to develop standards around the issue of sensitive data.

The DAA Program also prohibits the use of web viewing data for determining an individual’s eligibility for credit, employment, healthcare, and insurance.  To learn more, visit the DAA’s Multi-Site Data Principles.

How does the program limit interest-based advertising to children?

Under the Principles of this Program and consistent with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), participating companies agree not to collect personal information from children known to be under the age of 13 nor to engage in interest-based (online behavioral) advertising directed toward children unless it is compliant with the provisions of COPPA.

How does the program ensure that participating companies comply?

The Council of Better Business Bureaus and the DMA have implemented accountability programs to address companies’ compliance with the DAA Principles.

If you believe that you have witnessed a practice or ad that may violate these Principles, you can report the incident to either the CBBB or the DMA. 

 

Click to
Report a Complaint
to the CBBB

 

 

Click to
Report a Complaint
to the DMA
 

The CBB and DMA will coordinate investigation of received complaints.  Please click below to learn more about each organization’s complaint handling procedures.

About the Consumer Choice Page and what it does – and doesn’t – do

How does the Consumer Choice Page work?

Companies that engage in interest-based advertising are required to provide consumers with an easy to use mechanism for exercising choice about the collection and use of information covered by the DAA’s Principles.

The Consumer Choice Page gathers together in one place the opt out mechanisms provided by participating companies, offering visitors a “one-stop” platform through which to opt out from the collection of Web viewing data for interest-based advertising and other applicable uses, by some or all participating companies.

The Consumer Choice Page also provides useful information about visitors' browser status with respect to interest-based advertising, including information about which participating companies are already customizing ads for a user’s browser. 

The Consumer Choice Page does not, however, provide information about advertising companies that do not participate in the DAA Program, or provide opt outs to any form of advertising provided by these non-participating companies.

The DAA separately provides the AppChoices app for consumers to use to control data collected and used across apps on mobile devices by DAA companies participating in that tool.

Will the Consumer Choice Page block me from receiving any Web-based ads or email advertisements?

No. The opt-outs available through the Consumer Choice page apply to interest-based advertising and other applicable uses of Web viewing data by the DAA’s participating companies. The opt outs do not apply to other types of banner ads provided by these companies (i.e. ads that come in the pictorial, “banner” format), or carry over to ads displayed in mobile apps (for which the DAA’s AppChoices tool may be used instead for the companies participating in that tool).

For example, even after opting out of interest-based advertising from a participating company, a user may still receive other types of banner advertising from that company, including ads selected on the basis of the content of the web page ("contextual" ads), or other types of information (for example, demographic or general computer browser location information).

The opt outs provided on the Consumer Choice page do not apply to electronic email (or “spam”), postal mail, or pop-ups.

To learn more about how particular web sites or applications collect or use data for other types of advertising, users should review the privacy policies of the websites and apps that they visit.

What are opt out cookies and how do they remember opt out preferences?

Many online companies use cookies to remember users’ preferences about the collection and use of data. These “opt out cookies” help the participating companies to “recognize” users who have opted out through the DAA Program, and to respect that choice.

When a user exercises choice, those companies place an “opt-out” cookie in the user’s browser to tell the company not to deliver such advertising in future. Opt out cookies storing such preferences that are placed by companies participating in the DAA Program have a minimum five-year lifespan, and remain in effect for the user’s browser unless these opt out cookies are deleted (as can happen if users deletes all of their cookies using browser tools). Users should visit the Consumer Choice Page periodically to review or update their browser preferences or to set preferences for new participating companies.

To prevent accidental deletion of your opt out preferences, the DAA offers a variety of browser extensions to protect your choices.  To download and install the available browser extensions, please visit the DAA’s Protect My Choices page.

Does opting out stop participating companies from collecting any data?

No. Opting out for a particular browser tells the participating companies to stop engaging in interest-based advertising and other applicable data practices under the DAA Program. Advertisements not based on interest data – including those based on general location or registration data – will continue to be delivered to the browser.

After you opt out, participating companies and the Web sites you visit may continue to collect and use information for other purposes. For example, participating companies may still collect and use advertising data to measure the number of ads served for a particular campaign, to limit the number of times a particular ad is served to a unique browser, for security, or to prevent fraud. In some cases, automated systems will continue to collect other data about browser visits but that data will no longer be used to deliver interest-based advertising to the user.

In addition, data may be collected and used by participating companies and Web sites for a variety of purposes unrelated to advertising, including the operation of online products and services, or where the data has or will within a reasonable period of time from collection go through a de-identification process.

How does the DAA Program apply to advertising technologies other than HTTP cookies?

The DAA’s Principles promote enhanced transparency and control across the variety of online platforms used by consumers, and are adaptable to changes in the technologies through which participating companies collect data covered by the Program. The DAA Principles apply to all technologies companies employ to collect data about consumers’ web-surfing activity in order to serve them ads based on interests inferred from that activity. 

The BBB’s Online Interest-Based Advertising Accountability program has issued enforcement guidance clarifying that application of DAA Principles to all technologies, including Flash cookies.

Will the Consumer Choice Page work if my browser is set to block third party cookies?

No. Your browser must be set to accept third party cookies in order for the Consumer Choice Page to properly display status results and to set opt out preferences for your browser. The following links show how to adjust the browser settings of commonly used browsers:

Does the Consumer Choice Page set preferences for every computer or device that I use?

No. The opt out preferences set by the Consumer Choice Page are associated with the browser that you use to set those preferences, not with you as an individual. When you use a different browser, you will need to revisit the Consumer Choice Page to review your status and set your preferences for that browser.  In addition, for apps in the mobile environment, you will need to separately set preferences for each different device you use. Please visit our AppChoices tool for cross-app data collection choice.

Where can I find out more detail about the participating companies?

Each of the companies participating in the DAA Consumer Choice Page or AppChoices furnishes information about its business and privacy practices. This information can include additional privacy preference management tools for other services provided by the company, or ad interest managers. To review the information provided by a particular participating company, click on the company name in the Consumer Choice Page or in AppChoices.

Do these FAQs address every business practice and technology used by companies participating in the DAA Program?

The goal of these FAQs is to provide an easy-to-read overview of the key aspects of the DAA Program and its choice tools.  While we don’t cover every aspect of the program in this FAQ, the full DAA Principles provide detailed commentary on the coverage of the Program and the responsibilities of participants. Given the rapidly changing technology environment, we may need to update this page from time to time, so please check back for additional information on the Program.

Last revised: February 24, 2015