Privacy Initiatives

Advancing privacy best practices and operating independent, third-party accountability programs to help businesses and consumers navigate the digital marketplace

Businesses that collect personal information understand the critical need to comply with privacy and data protection laws. But from small startups to global enterprises, some businesses choose to do more: leading the way by demonstrating their embrace of privacy standards and best practices that set the tone for their industry.

BBB National Programs works with individual companies, industry groups, and regulators to develop, monitor, and enforce robust privacy standards. Our trusted privacy programs deliver independent accountability for privacy promises, whether built on self-regulatory principles or legal requirements, tailored to respond to the unique privacy challenges presented by specific data types, like children’s data, or use cases, such as emerging technologies and cross-border transfers.

Together our programs drive the adoption of unified privacy practices, facilitate consumer education and choice, and offer consumers accessible, no-cost privacy dispute resolution. Looking to the future, where new regulations and technologies bring new privacy challenges, BBB National Programs brings together stakeholders to craft enforceable and fair mechanisms that protect consumers in the marketplace, and enable responsible businesses to compete on trust and accountability.

To learn more about our work—and to join in the effort—please check out the programs, initiatives, and resources below.

BBB EU Privacy Shield

Children's Advertising Review Unit

Digital Advertising Accountability Program

Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR)

Privacy Recognition for Processors (PRP)

Vendor Privacy Program (VPP)

Global Privacy Division

Through BBB National Programs’ Global Privacy Division, businesses show their partners and customers that they put privacy first, no matter where they operate. Our programs serve as key elements of frameworks like the Cross-Border Privacy Rules and Privacy Shield, bridging gaps between divergent privacy and data protection regimes.

Global Privacy Division

Thought Leadership

Blog

AI Can Be A Force For Good In Recruiting And Hiring New Employees

A challenge for rapid innovation in any industry is the ability for legal and regulatory requirements to keep pace. In the recruiting and hiring process, where AI provides aid to human decision-making and a welcome relief to managing a deluge of data, company leaders are asking themselves: How can we combine important technological innovation with a proactive approach to employment law requirements?

Blog

A globalized CBPR framework: Peering into the future of data transfers

Last month, at the IAPP’s Privacy. Security. Risk. 2021 conference, an important moment occurred that may have been easy to miss. During a panel discussion titled “The Evolution of International Privacy Policymaking in the U.S. Government," discussing data flow issues around the world, the DOC International Trade Administration's Christopher Hoff, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Services, dropped the clearest signals about the future of ITA’s work.

Blog

Self-Regulation Is a Tool to Mitigate Litigation

Independent industry self-regulation, when developed and implemented properly, is a powerful tool for enhancing consumer trust in business and protecting consumers. And as we emerge from the reduced trust in government wreaked by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is time for independent industry self-regulation to help solve vexing business problems. In-house counsel can play an important leadership role in those efforts.

Blog

Is Your Business Ready for Consumer Data Privacy Requests?

Businesses face many common pitfalls as they prepare to handle consumer privacy requests. They may be referred to as “data rights,” “data subject rights” (DSRs), or “data subject access rights” (DSARs). No matter what they are called, there are consistent themes in the best practices and pitfalls inherent in these essential elements of any privacy program.

Podcast

The Past and Future of Privacy Accountability: Is CBPR a Model?

Listen to the latest episode of The Accountability Studio for an informative conversation on the cross-border privacy rules (CBPR) system, a voluntary framework with a global impact. BBB National Programs Director of Global Privacy Initiatives Josh Harris, and Sam Schofield, International Trade Specialist, Global Data Privacy, share their knowledge on the purpose and vision of the...

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Podcast

The Perfect Storm for Privacy and Adtech: How the End of the Cookie Era Will Reshape the Digital Marketplace

Many privacy professionals see the depletion of third-party cookies, paired with several technological, political, and cultural factors, as the perfect storm for privacy and adtech – one that will bring about fundamental changes to the advertising industry and the broader digital marketplace. In this episode,...

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Latest Announcements

Press Release

BBB National Programs Children’s Advertising Review Unit Begins Monitoring Child-Directed Content for Compliance with Revised Advertising Guidelines

McLean, VA – January 4, 2022 – BBB National Programs’ Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) begins monitoring child-directed advertising under the revised CARU Advertising Guidelines, widely recognized industry standards to assure that advertising directed to children is not deceptive,...

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Press Release

BBB National Programs Board of Directors Welcomes IAB CEO David Cohen and Re-Elects Three Members, Including P&G’s Ken Patel as Chair

McLean, VA – December 20, 2021 – The Board of Directors of BBB National Programs, an independent non-profit organization that operates more than a dozen independent industry self-regulation, accountability, and dispute resolution programs, today announced that it has welcomed a new member and re-elected...

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Decision

Children’s Advertising Review Unit Recommends IMC Toys Include “Non-Edible” Disclosure in Cry Babies Magic Tears Tutti Frutti Doll Advertisement

New York, NY – May 27, 2021 – The Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) recommended that IMC Toys USA Inc. modify its television advertisement promoting the Cry Babies Magic Tears Tutti Frutti doll to include a clear and conspicuous disclosure that children should not consume the jell-like...

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Decision

Children’s Advertising Review Unit Determines Development Platform Unity Did Not Have Actual Knowledge of Ad SDK Data Collection in Child-Directed Apps

McLean, VA – April 28, 2021 – The Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU), a division of BBB National Programs, determined that Unity Technologies did not have actual knowledge, as defined by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and CARU’s Guidelines for Online Privacy...

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