Ontario Consultation, Political Ads, and DSA Fact Sheet
The second quarter of 2021 has been chock-full of activity with us collaborating closely with our member associations as well as our partners at the DAA and EDAA. We have been focusing on future iterations of the AdChoices program – one ready for the post-cookie world. This work is actively happening right now, including a refresh of our base Principles for the AdChoices program, which you will hear about in the future.
In the meantime, some news we wish to inform you about is below.
Public Consultation Launched – Modernizing Privacy in Ontario
On June 17, the Honourable Lisa Thompson, Minister of Government and Consumer Services of Ontario, provided an update to the public consultations held last year regarding an Ontario private-sector privacy law.
The Minister’s letter criticized the federal government’s Bill C-11, the Digital Charter Implementation Act, as lacking cohesion to what they saw in their provincial consultation. She announced the possibility of provincial legislation that would govern citizen data and set a “national gold standard” for privacy protection.
The new policy proposals include:
The introduction of a rights-based approach to privacy
Safe use of automated decision-making
Enhanced consent and lawful uses of personal data
Stronger data transparency
Protection for vulnerable groups such as children and youth
Positioned as a "fair, proportionate, and supportive regulatory regime"
Touts support for Ontario innovators
The Minister also stated that a harmonized national privacy regime would be the best outcome for Ontarians, and extended an invitation to her federal counterpart to discuss how to come together to ensure privacy laws are interoperable between jurisdictions.
We encourage companies to review the white paper associated with this announcement and provide feedback at Ontario.ca/PrivacyProtection. The DAAC will submit by the August 3rd deadline and would welcome input from participants towards this effort.
Political Ads Program – Open for Registration!
Elections Canada has reconfirmed that the DAAC's Political Ads self-regulatory program meets the requirements under the Canada Elections Act for identification information needed in or around advertisements of a political nature – including issue-based ads.
New phrases were also approved by Elections Canada to be used beside the purple icon, including:
Ad Info
Authorized by
Paid For By
Political Ad
Political Ad Disclosure
Who Funded This Ad?
Who Made This Ad?
As the prospect of a federal election in the Fall looms, now is a good time to better understand our icon-based program and the standardized platform we offer for it. The program is simple to use and available at a very low cost.
Upcoming webinars are a good place to start:
Aug 12 at noon EST – Register Here
Or contact us directly for more information.
Our Political Ads program is ready for signatories. Recent signatories include MediaMath and The NOW Group. If your company would like to license the icon and use our in-ad transparency tool, please register below: Register Your Company Today!
EDAA Fact Sheet – Digital Services Act (DSA)
The Digital Services Act (DSA) amends the e-Commerce Directive (2000/31/EC) and will govern any type of advertising made available on online platforms, from digital marketing to political & issue-based ads in Europe. Following the example set by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), it will apply to platforms established outside the EU in case they target European consumers.
The EDAA, our European counterpart, is ideally positioned and ready to contribute to this debate with tools, expertise, and know-how. Their fact sheet, which you can download here, focuses on the DSA and aims to provide a clearer view of the likely impact of the regulation on industry, business, and users alike. Be sure to download and give it a read.