Privacy Initiatives

Advancing privacy best practices and operating independent, third-party accountability programs to help businesses and consumers navigate the digital marketplace


Businesses that collect personal information understand the critical need to comply with privacy and data protection laws. But from small startups to global enterprises, some businesses choose to do more: leading the way by demonstrating their embrace of privacy standards and best practices that set the tone for their industry.

 

BBB National Programs works with individual companies, industry groups, and regulators to develop, monitor, and enforce robust privacy standards. Our trusted privacy programs deliver independent accountability for privacy promises, whether built on self-regulatory principles or legal requirements, tailored to respond to the unique privacy challenges presented by specific data types, like children’s data, or use cases, such as emerging technologies and cross-border transfers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Global Privacy Division

Through BBB National Programs’ Global Privacy Division, businesses show their partners and customers that they put privacy first, no matter where they operate. Our programs serve as key elements of frameworks like the Cross-Border Privacy Rules and EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, bridging gaps between divergent privacy and data protection regimes.

 

 

Thought Leadership

The Privacy Initiatives team works with businesses to drive the adoption of unified privacy practices, facilitate consumer education and choice, and offer consumers accessible, no-cost privacy dispute resolution. We understand how to craft enforceable and fair mechanisms that protect consumers in the marketplace, and enable responsible businesses to compete on trust and accountability. 

 

Blog

Robust Dispute Resolution: A Quiet Enforcer for Privacy Compliance

ICYMI, a procedural rule change to update the GDPR has been agreed upon by the European Parliament to provide EU citizens with greater legal certainty regarding enforcement of GDPR, improve the dispute resolution process, and streamline the handling of cross-border cases.
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Blog

Warning: Use Caution with AI in the Children’s Space

Children are engaging with various forms of artificial intelligence (AI), a technology that can provide significant benefits that can be accompanied by a series of risks. The Children’s Advertising Review Unit compliance warning regarding the use of AI in practices directed to children reminds industry of its special responsibilities to children.
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Blog

Renewal Season: 5 Tips to Ensure a Smooth Data Privacy Framework Process

U.S. companies in the Data Privacy Framework Program (DPF) program recertify each year with the Department of Commerce to assess and account for how they handle and process personal data that originates in the EU, U.K., and/or Switzerland. Here are 5 tips for making it a smooth process.
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Blog

American Privacy Rights Act: A Primer for Business

Was it the recent series of natural phenomena that prompted Congress to move on a bipartisan, bicameral federal privacy bill? We can’t say with certainty, but we can outline for you what we believe to be, at first glance, the most compelling elements of the American Privacy Rights Act of 2024 (APRA).
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Podcast

Breaking Down AdTech: Cookies and Pixels and SDKs, Oh My!

This episode of Priv breaks down the most talked about issues in the adtech space, including the impact of the death of the cookie, the focus of regulators on the newest kid on the block - the pixel, lessons learned from recent SDK legal cases, what all of this looks like for children and teens, and what the legislative and regulatory road ahead looks like.

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Podcast

Cross Border Privacy Rules Goes Global: A Deep Dive on CBPRs

Privacy professionals are faced with what seems like a never-ending, sometimes overwhelming stream of new privacy laws and regulations, both here in the U.S. and abroad. In this episode of Priv, host Dona Fraser is joined by Victoria Akosile, Deputy Director of BBB National Programs Privacy Initiatives to take you from APEC to global CBPRs, explaining all of the acronyms in...

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Latest Announcements

Press Release

BBB National Programs Appoints Amy Steacy as General Counsel, Promotes New Leaders in Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising and Global Privacy

McLean, VA – June 4, 2024 – BBB National Programs announced the appointment of Amy Steacy as General Counsel. Additional leadership promotions include Daniel Range as Vice President of the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) and Dr. Divya Sridhar as Vice President, Global...

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Press Release

BBB National Programs Issues Compliance Warning for Use of AI in Child-Directed Advertising and Data Collection

McLean, VA – May 1, 2024 – BBB National Programs’ Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) today issued a new compliance warning on the application of CARU’s Advertising and Privacy Guidelines to the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), putting advertisers, brands, endorsers, developers, toy manufacturers, and others on...

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Decision

Children’s Advertising Review Unit Finds YouTube Channel “Vlad and Niki” in Violation of its Advertising Guidelines; Recommends Disclosure Modifications

New York, NY – May 29, 2024 - The Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) launched an investigation into the YouTube channel “Vlad and Niki” to determine if the channel's video content and advertisements comply with CARU’s Self-Regulatory Guidelines for Children’s Advertising.

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Decision

BBB National Programs’ Privacy Watchdog Ensures Shein Adheres to Digital Advertising Privacy Best Practices

McLean, VA – April 11, 2024 - The Digital Advertising Accountability Program (DAAP) worked with global fast fashion retailer, Shein to bring its website and mobile apps into compliance with the Digital Advertising Alliance’s (DAA) Self-Regulatory Principles for online interest-based advertising (IBA). 

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Events

DAA's Self-Regulation: A Bridge to Robust Compliance in Targeted Advertising

Divya Sridhar, Vice President, Global Privacy Division and Privacy Initiatives Operations, BBB National Programs will discuss casework that outlines why a Principles-based approach to data and adverti ...
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Oct 07, 2024 Virtual