Leading DM Trade Groups Introduce Privacy Principles for Collection and Use of Behavioral Data

Taken collectively, the participating associations represent more than 5,000 leading U.S. companies across all of the key businesses that have played a role in the transformation of the way consumers experience media. According to the "Economic Value of the Advertising-Supported Internet Ecosystem," a recent study commissioned by the IAB, the advertising-supported Internet represents 2.1% of the total U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) contributing $300 billion to the economy and has created 3.1 million U.S. jobs. The Internet itself has become a vital link in the supply chain and communications chain for all businesses, and is a lifeline for the hundreds of thousands of small businesses and publishers that have no equivalently cost-effective means of reaching so wide an audience. The ecosystem includes advertisers, advertising agencies, Web publishers, Internet access services providers, providers of application software such as Web toolbars and Internet Web browsers, search engines and online advertising networks.