The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has provided an update on its ‘online tracking strategy’, setting out the steps it intends to take in the near future to “give people meaningful choice and control over how they are tracked online, and provide businesses with certainty to innovate responsibly”.

Seven key objectives are identified:

The ICO points to the recently published final guidance on storage and access technologies (discussed here), but notes that it is conscious that the Government may amend the Regulation 6 PECR requirements for online advertising purposes, requiring an update to its guidance. It also highlights work with the online advertising industry to “help shape future privacy-respecting initiatives”.

As we have discussed previously here, the ICO published a call for views on its approach to regulating online advertising, asking whether there might be limited low-risk circumstances in which publishers could deliver online advertising to users who have not granted consent. Next month, it will publish its advice to Government on the matter.

The ICO will continue its work in this area, pointing to recent reviews of cookie banners on the top 1,000 websites in the UK, and engagement with software companies providing cookie banners to online businesses to ensure that the design and implementation of consent management platforms comply with the ICO’s guidance.

The ICO commits itself to “continue to monitor compliance and ensure that online businesses uphold their legal obligations to provide their users with fair and transparent choices”.

Following publication of its guidance on how data protection law applies to consent or pay models (discussed here), the ICO states that it is monitoring  market adoption of these models and compliance with the guidance, engaging where necessary with organisations to ensure that users can freely give consent.

Final guidance will soon be published on the use of consumer Internet of Things (IoT) products and services. The ICO will also engage this year with connected TV manufacturers to ensure that people are given meaningful control over tracking for personalised advertising on connected TVs.

Finally, the ICO highlights the various ways in which it has sought to understand how its work can increase public trust and confidence in how organisations use personal information for online tracking. This will form part of the impact review of its online tracking strategy which will be published later this year.

To read more, click here.