Promoting the Ethical & Innovative Use of Data for Digital Advertising

Last week at the IAPP’s 2014 Privacy Academy in San Jose, CA, IAPP Vanguard Award recipient David Hoffman, who serves as Intel’s director of security policy and its global privacy officer, called on privacy professionals to make a pledge by Tweeting the hashtag #datainnovationpledge and to make a virtual promise to “promote the ethical and innovative use of data.”  (Read David’s blog here.)

As President and CEO of NAI and a member of the IAPP Board of Directors, I was among the first to make this pledge. 

We at NAI agree with Hoffman that “[p]rivacy protections give individuals the confidence to engage, to allow their data to be used, to participate in the digital economy.”  We also agree that, while compliance with privacy laws is important, the role of privacy professionals and robust self-regulation like NAI is to move beyond strict compliance and  “focus on achieving the promise of data innovation, while protecting individuals.”  

That is what NAI is all about.  NAI upholds and preserves consumer trust by setting a high bar for responsible data collection and use by its members.  Strict standards and a holistic view of the industry allow NAI and our members to provide the foundation for a thriving and diverse market of ad-supported free content and services.  All our privacy professionals are taking the pledge because our jobs are to help our members promote the “ethical and innovative use of data” for digital advertising.  That’s why more and more top brands, agencies and ad tech partners ask third party advertising companies about NAI membership prior to doing business with them. 

We congratulate David Hoffman on his award and support his call to all privacy professionals.  Let’s work together to promote the ethical and innovative use of data so that we can all benefit from the promise of the information age and digital economy.