[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 223 (Friday, November 18, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71564-71566]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-29792]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
[File No. 102 3185]
ScanScout, Inc.; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public
Comment
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.
ACTION: Proposed Consent Agreement.
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SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged
violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or
practices or unfair methods of competition. The attached Analysis to
Aid Public Comment describes both the allegations in the draft
complaint and the terms of the consent order--embodied in the consent
agreement--that would settle these allegations.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before December 8, 2011.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment online or on paper, by
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``ScanScout, File No.
102 3185'' on your comment, and file your comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/scanscoutconsent, by following the
instructions on the Web-based form. If you prefer to file your comment
on paper, mail or deliver your comment to the following address:
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Room H-113 (Annex
D), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kandi Parsons ((202) 326-2369), FTC,
Bureau of Competition, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC
20580.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to section 6(f) of the Federal
Trade Commission Act, 38 Stat. 721, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and Sec. 2.34 the
Commission Rules of Practice, 16 CFR 2.34, notice is hereby given that
the above-captioned consent agreement containing a consent order to
cease and desist, having been filed with and accepted, subject to final
approval, by the Commission, has been placed on the public record for a
period of thirty (30) days. The following Analysis to Aid Public
Comment describes the terms of the consent agreement, and the
allegations in the complaint. An electronic copy of the full text of
the consent agreement package can be obtained from the FTC Home Page
(for November 8, 2011), on the World Wide Web, at http://www.ftc.gov/os/actions.shtm. A paper copy can be obtained from the FTC Public
Reference Room, Room 130-H, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC
20580, either in person or by calling (202) 326-2222.
You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before December 8,
2011. Write ``ScanScout, File No. 102 3185'' on your comment. Your
comment--including your name and your state--will be placed on the
public record of this proceeding, including, to the extent practicable,
on the public Commission Web site, at http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of discretion, the Commission tries to
remove individuals' home contact information from comments before
placing them on the Commission Web site.
Because your comment will be made public, you are solely
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any
sensitive personal information, like anyone's Social Security number,
date of birth, driver's license number or other state identification
number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial
account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any
sensitive health information, like medical records or other
individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information
which is obtained from any person and which is privileged or
confidential,'' as provided in Section 6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C.
46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 4.10(a)(2). In particular, do
not include competitively sensitive information such as costs, sales
statistics, inventories, formulas, patterns, devices, manufacturing
processes, or customer names.
If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for
confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained
in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\1\ Your comment will be kept
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole
discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the
public interest.
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\1\ In particular, the written request for confidential
treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and
legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions
of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule
4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit
your
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comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your online
comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/scanscoutconsent by following the instructions on the web-based form.
If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you also
may file a comment through that Web site.
If you file your comment on paper, write ``ScanScout, File No. 102
3185'' on your comment and on the envelope, and mail or deliver it to
the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the
Secretary, Room H-113 (Annex D), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.,
Washington, DC 20580. If possible, submit your paper comment to the
Commission by courier or overnight service.
Visit the Commission Web site at http://www.ftc.gov to read this
Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws
that the Commission administers permit the collection of public
comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The
Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that
it receives on or before December 8, 2011. You can find more
information, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in
the Commission's privacy policy, at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.
Analysis of Agreement Containing Consent Order To Aid Public Comment
The Federal Trade Commission has accepted, subject to final
approval, a consent agreement from ScanScout, Inc. (``ScanScout'').
The proposed consent order has been placed on the public record for
thirty (30) days for receipt of comments by interested persons.
Comments received during this period will become part of the public
record. After thirty (30) days, the Commission will again review the
agreement and the comments received, and will decide whether it should
withdraw from the agreement and take appropriate action or make final
the agreement's proposed order.
ScanScout is a video advertising network that engages in online
behavioral advertising, the practice of collecting and storing
information about consumers' online activities across Web sites in
order to deliver advertising targeted to their interests as inferred
from their online activities. ScanScout acts as an intermediary between
Web site publishers and advertisers that wish to have their video
advertisements placed on Web sites. As a general matter, when a
consumer visits a Web site within an online behavioral advertiser's
network of Web site publishers, the online advertising network sets an
HTTP cookie, which is a small text file, into the consumer's browser or
automatically receives a cookie it has previously set in the consumer's
browser. The cookie contains a unique identifier that allows the
network to recognize the consumer's computer and correlate the computer
to online activity across Web sites. The advertising network uses the
cookie to collect and store information about the consumer's online
activities, including content or advertisements viewed and the pages
visited within a particular Web site.
By contrast, from at least April 2007 to September 2009, ScanScout
used Flash cookies, also known as Flash local shared objects, instead
of HTTP cookies to conduct online behavioral advertising. ScanScout's
privacy policy stated that by changing their browser settings,
consumers could opt out of receiving cookies; however, at that time,
users could not use their browser settings to block the placement of
Flash cookies. Accordingly, the complaint alleges that ScanScout
deceived consumers and violated Section 5 of the FTC Act by stating
that consumers could prevent the company from collecting data about
their online activities by changing their browser settings to prevent
the receipt of cookies. The Commission alleges that representations
ScanScout made in its privacy policy regarding consumers' ability to
opt out of receiving cookies were false or misleading.
Part I of the proposed order prohibits ScanScout \2\ from
misrepresenting (1) the extent to which data about users or their
online activities is collected, used, disclosed, or shared and (2) the
extent to which users may exercise control over the collection, use,
disclosure, or sharing of data collected from or about them, their
computers or devices or their online activities. Part II of the
proposed order requires the company to take a number of steps to
improve the transparency of, and users' ability to control, its
collection of user data for online behavioral advertising. First,
within thirty (30) days after service of the proposed order, ScanScout
must place a clear and prominent notice with a hyperlink on the
homepage of its Web site that states: ``We collect information about
your activities on certain Web sites to send you targeted ads. To opt
out of our targeted advertisements, click here.'' The notice must
direct users to a mechanism that allows them to prevent the company
from (1) collecting information that can be associated with them or
contains a unique identifier, (2) redirecting their browsers to third
parties that collect data, absent an affirmative action, and (3)
associating any previously collected data with them. Such choice must
remain in effect for a minimum of five (5) years. ScanScout may,
however, collect data that can be associated with a particular user or
that contains a unique identifier for certain permissible uses
specified in the order--for example, to effectuate the consumer's opt
out choice or to limit the number of times an advertisement is
displayed.
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\2\ In November 2010, ScanScout merged with Tremor Media, Inc.,
now known as Tremor Video, Inc. Tremor Video, Inc. is included in
the definition of respondent in the order. In addition, the order
includes a representation by ScanScout that any parents,
subsidiaries, and successors necessary to effectuate the relief
contemplated by the order are bound to the order as if they had
signed the agreement and were made parties to the proceeding.
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Second, within close proximity to the mechanism, the company must
disclose: (1) That it collects information about users' activities on
certain Web sites to deliver targeted ads; (2) that by opting out, the
company will not collect this information to deliver such ads; (3)
users' current choice status (i.e., whether opted out or not opted
out); and (4) any circumstances that, if initiated by the user, would
disable the mechanism or require the user to implement the mechanism
again to maintain his or her choice (i.e., if they switch browsers or
devices, or if they delete cookies, they will have to opt out again).
Third, within or immediately adjacent to any behaviorally targeted
display advertisement that the company serves, it must include a
hyperlink that takes users directly to the required choice mechanism.
The hyperlink text must disclose to consumers that selecting the
hyperlink will give them choices about receiving targeted ads.
Fourth, due to technical limitations ScanScout cannot currently
incorporate a hyperlink to the choice mechanism into all its video
advertisements; therefore the order requires the company to undertake
reasonable efforts to develop and implement a hyperlink for video
advertisements that directs users to the choice mechanism, and the
company must report regularly to the Commission regarding those
efforts.
Parts III through VII of the proposed order are reporting and
compliance provisions. Part III requires ScanScout to retain documents
relating to its compliance with the order. Part IV requires
dissemination of the order to all current and future principals,
officers, directors, managers, employees, agents, and representatives
having
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supervisory responsibilities relating to the subject matter of the
order. Part V ensures notification to the FTC of changes in corporate
status. Part VI mandates that ScanScout submit reports to the
Commission detailing its compliance with the order. Part VII provides
that the order expires after twenty (20) years, with certain
exceptions.
The purpose of the analysis is to aid public comment on the
proposed order. It is not intended to constitute an official
interpretation of the proposed order or to modify its terms in any way.
By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2011-29792 Filed 11-17-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P