Ad industry backs online privacy push

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has teamed with a privacy group to launch a public awareness ad campaign designed to calm consumer fears about online privacy. Members of the IAB, which include DoubleClick, Yahoo, About.com, iVillage and Terra Lycos, have committed ad inventory worth about $13.5 million to the campaign, which will run over the next year.

The online ads, in the form of banners and rich-media units, will offer lessons on how consumers can protect their privacy online. Tips include how to shop securely online and how to protect your identity in chat rooms. The IAB, along with the nonprofit coalition Privacy Leadership Initiative, expects to reach more than 70 percent of U.S. Net visitors through the campaign, which will run on such sites as America Online, Monster.com and New York Times Digital. --Stefanie Olsen, Special to ZDNet News