CTV Privacy Safety Compliance, Security and Prominence Update

 

Consumer privacy protection policy on smart TV platforms

Following our recent submission to the Australian government consultation prominence framework on the media regulation reform of Connected TV home screens in Australia, the UK Media reform Bill has entered the House for debate. The bill is similar in scope to Australia, with prominence of public service broadcasters (PSBs) on smart TVs. 

Under the new Ofcom code, local UK apps would be discoverable on UK devices and reciprocated internationally under carriage agreements by other countries to global CTV viewing audiences. The content implications of the new framework proport local apps going global, we will explore matters proposed with the FCC in the US and the ERGA in Europe proposal with general counsel members. 

Our compliance advocacy work with regulators includes the Privacy Act reform bill proposed in Australia, specifically as it relates to ad targeting and follows the US Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) of 2018, in which the IAB responded with the IAB CCPA Compliance Framework and Limited Service Provider Agreement (LSPA), which has provided nearly 800 hundred member and non-member companies with scalable compliance solutions for their digital advertising. 

The Australia privacy law, the Privacy Act 1988, is undergoing a much-needed modernisation to account for the modern internet and device landscape. In our opinion, the regulations should not be any stronger than the comparable terms already in place in the EU and UK; the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK’s very similar GDPR variant. When online identifiers and metadata come into play, Australian courts generally refer to a long tangle of case law established since then to try to determine what to do on a situational basis. 

The government is looking to specifically define metadata and online identifiers as a protected category of personal information in contrast to the protection the Apple ID affords its customers is the establishment of “fair and reasonable” terms for collection and use of personal data privacy submitted by Experian in a cookieless environment. 

The CTVMA supports the discoverability of OTT apps on consumer home screens and in OS app stores on fair commercial terms under existing platform privacy security policy without competitive advantage would be best served under a Streaming Code of Practice Framework in the Future of Broadcasting Working Group. Ideally, a reporting scheme that would require regulated parties to report on systems they have in place to ensure local TV services are easily discoverable on their devices. 

We refer member counsel to Thomas Roger White Jr., et al. v. LG Electronics Inc., LG, Samsung, and Sony Smart TV et al., Case No. 2:17-cv-01775, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey (FCC), pursuant to the federal Video Privacy Act, the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act, among other claims. Under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, plaintiffs are entitled to statutory damages of $100 per day of violation, to a maximum of $10,000 each.