Source: Theresa Howard, USA Today

The digital ad industry will announce Thursday sweeping new self-policing guidelines aimed at providing consumers with options for how they want to interact with online ad businesses that gather data about them.

The $8.5 billion ad industry is hoping to ease consumer privacy concerns and give people more choices, including an “opt-out,” about what is known as behavioral advertising. It’s the practice of designing and delivering ads to people based on their Web usage. Advertisers wanted to take the lead before the government responds to concerns with regulation.

“We wanted to put the tools of control with the consumer, not with government, not with companies,” says Randall Rothenberg, CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau trade group.

Read Full Article: Online advertisers launch sweeping rules over data privacy