Privacy Watchdog Brings Luxury Eyewear Maker and Online Insurance Marketplace into Digital Advertising Compliance
For Immediate Release
Arlington, VA – June 18, 2020 – BBB National Programs’ Digital Advertising Accountability Program (DAAP) today released two new data privacy cases for Luxottica and Compare.com issuing recommendations and outlining actions taken to date to bring these companies into compliance with the Digital Advertising Alliance’s (DAA) Self-Regulatory Principles (DAA Principles).
Luxottica, an eyewear company known for its popular Ray-Ban and Oakley sunglasses brands and its LensCrafters chain of eyeglass retailers, and Compare.com, a Virginia-based insurance comparison website, now meet best practices for protecting online consumers by increasing their control over how their data is used in interest-based advertising.
DAAP’s in-house technical monitoring determined that Luxottica’s websites for Ray-Ban and Oakley sunglasses did not meet the DAA Principles’ requirement for “enhanced” notice of targeted advertising and transmitted an inquiry letter to Luxottica.
In response, Luxottica committed to compliance with the DAA Principles and worked with DAAP to add an enhanced notice link and disclosure describing third-party data collection to its U.S.-facing websites, as well as a link for consumers to opt out of interest-based advertising. The company also examined the collection practices of its suite of mobile apps to make sure that precise geolocation data was not collected for advertising purposes without providing correct notice and consent tools to app users. Going forward, Luxottica pledged to provide appropriate disclosures, notices, and consent tools to consumers as needed to comply with the DAA Principles.
In the case of Compare.com, DAAP conducted a data traffic analysis on the company’s website in response to a consumer complaint. The analysis revealed the collection of personal data — in particular, web browser cookie data — by third parties for advertising purposes. However, the website lacked the clear and conspicuous notice of this activity and a personal data control mechanism recommended in the DAA Principles.
After DAAP contacted Compare.com, the company agreed to implement each of DAAP’s recommendations, bringing itself into compliance with the DAA Principles. These requested changes included:
- Incorporating an up-front “enhanced notice” link on every page where third parties collect cookie data, which leads directly to a description of this activity;
- Providing a link to the DAA’s WebChoices page, to enable users to decide whether third parties can use their cookie data for ad tracking; and
- Adding a statement of adherence to the DAA Principles to the company’s privacy policy.
Today’s case release represents DAAP’s 117th public action since the program began its self-regulatory mission in 2011.
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