TRUSTe Announces An Opt-Out System for Mobile Ads

There are some big challenges ahead for mobile advertising, as the industry faces increasing scrutiny from the federal regulators, and as Apple phases out the UDIDs used by advertisers and publishers to identify users. Now privacy company TRUSTe is offering a new way for advertisers to address some of these concerns.

The program is called TRUSTe Mobile Ads, and it allows consumers to opt-out of both targeted advertising and data collection. When an ad is shown by one of TRUSTe’s partners, it includes a small AdChoices icon. If someone taps on the icon, they’re taken to a page where they can opt-out of collection and targeting from an individual network, or from all of TRUSTe’s partners. Those preferences are then remembered through a system called the Trusted Preference Identifier.

The program also aligns with the AdChoices principles laid out by the Digital Advertising Alliance, TRUSTe says.

The company announced the program at today’s ad:tech conference in San Francisco. The initial partners are ad networks Greystripe, HasOffers, Human Demand, InMobi, Medialets, Nexage, and (on the publishing side) Electronics Arts.

TRUSTe set the stage for today’s announcement by releasing a study on consumer privacy, which found that among the top 50 Android apps and top 50 iOS apps, only one-third had a privacy policy. It also found that nearly three-fourths of the population worries about privacy when using mobile apps.

“The need for a standardized cross-platform approach to mobile privacy is essential to maximize mobile advertising opportunities, address growing regulatory concerns and build trust for consumers,” said TRUSTe CEO Chris Babel in a press release.