Online ad guidelines face further criticism

The Competition Bureau is facing a serious backlash from some high-powered opponents in its bid to introduce new guidelines for online advertising. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Canadian Bar Association, Telus Corp and Bell Canada are among those raising a red flag in written comments responding to the proposed guidelines, released earlier this summer (CNM, June 14/01). The comments are in addition to those made by the Canadian Association of Internet Providers and the Internet Advertising Bureau of Canada (CNM, Sept. 5/01) on how the bureau should enforce the Competition Act on the Internet. Industry sources suggest privately that the bureau has no choice but to re-work its draft guidelines in the face of overwhelming evidence that they are fundamentally flawed. But, in an interview with CNM this week, bureau officials would say only that the process will be a lengthy one, and that they will not speculate what kind of options might be on the table at the end of an analysis period – or even whether it will be necessary to re-open the file to further consultation. One source close to the issue, however, told CNM that the bureau has indicated privately that it may convene a roundtable in response to industry demands. In its submission, Bell Canada has come out forcefully for the need to further consult with industry players. While recognizing the need for guidance in how the bureau will enforce the Competition Act online, the telecom and media giant stresses that it won’t accept the guidelines as currently written. "The very fact that Guidelines are being created is important; providing direction in an evolving commercial environment that on occasion lacks clear norms for business conduct," it writes. "However, it is important to ensure that the Competition Act…is applied in an equitable and workable fashion to the expanding electronic environment in which many Canadian businesses operate today." Bell goes on to say that if implemented, the new guidelines would create different rules for different advertising media. "The Guidelines inappropriately assign liability for Internet advertising in a manner not comparable to other media and impose on Internet Service Providers, web hosts, portal operators and broadband network service providers obligations to monitor content that are simply not feasible," the company argues. Overall, it says the bureau has used language that is too vague and has made too many analogies with traditional media that don’t stand up to scrutiny in the digital age. Those concerns are echoed by the Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA) which writes that comparing ISPs hosting a web site with traditional publishers of broadcast or print media is inappropriate. Like most of the submissions, the CCTA has called on the bureau to change several aspects of its draft guidelines to take into account the near-impossibility of monitoring the traffic of packets flowing through an ISP’s facilities. In its draft text, the Competition Bureau has suggested that disclaimers should be "placed on the screen close to the representation to which it relates," or even on every page of a site. Both the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Association of Canadian Advertisers say disclaimers are best published using hyperlinks and pop-up technologies. "The Chamber believes that the Guidelines must be careful not to limit the creative use of technology, such as using pop-up boxes or links to highlight key supplementary information."

Online ad guidelines face further criticism

Broadcast | September 20, 2001

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