As the Senate appears poised to take up floor debate on a major overhaul of the financial regulatory regime, advertising trade groups are stepping up their opposition to any provisions that could entail an expansion of the Federal Trade Commission’s rulemaking authority.
Several organizations and companies, including the Direct Marketing Association, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and others, plan to appeal to top Senate leadership this week to block any FTC expansion measure that could be included in an amendment to the bill, according to industry sources.
As it stands, the Senate bill does not include the FTC language, though the House version does. The groups are also wary of some members of the Senate Commerce Committee who might seek to include the provision in the final bill through a “back-room deal.”
E-Commerce Guide has the story on the groups’ opposition campaign to the expansions of FTC rulemaking authority.
WASHINGTON — Worried about the potential for a crackdown on e-marketing practices like online behavioral targeting, major advertisers are moving to oppose the possible expansion of the Federal Trade Commission’s powers.
InternetNews.com has learned that this week, a coalition of leading advertising and marketing trade associations and their member companies plans to call on Senate leadership to halt any effort to include an expansion of the FTC’s rulemaking authority that could come part of the financial regulation bill rapidly working its way through the chamber.
The concern for advertisers and other industries that have come under FTC scrutiny is that, under the most extreme version of the legislation, the agency could act as “judge, jury and executioner” without authorization from Congress or the Department of Justice, according to Jim Davidson, chair of the public policy group at the law firm Polsinelli Shughart.