TRUSTe began reporting on NAI complaints in March 2002. It used its Watchdog Reports to do this. In the intervening years, TRUSTe public reports regarding the NAI reveal a troubling, systematic reduction of transparency regarding the NAI. (See Appendix B for a complete listing of all TRUSTe NAI complaints.)
Oversight of the NAI has been neglected. As a result, there are many things the public simply does not know about the program, in particular, its effectiveness. To date, the public does not know how many consumers participate in the program. The public does not have numbers comparing consumers who have visited opt-out pages with consumers who have successfully opted out. How many consumers actually have opt-out cookies, and for how long? Where are the reports on whether or not it is effective for those who do opt-out? Are NAI members actually complying with the obligations?
The NAI has failed. The agreement is foundationally flawed in its approach to what online means and in its choice of the opt-out cookie as a core feature. The NAI opt-out does not work consistently and fails to work at all far too often. Further, the opt-out is counter-intuitive, difficult to accomplish, easily deleted by consumers, and easily circumvented. The NAI opt-out was never a great idea, and time has shown both that consumers have not embraced it and that companies can easily evade its purpose.
To compile this list, the World Privacy Forum relied on saved pages of NAI available on Archive.org.
NAI membership from 1999- 2007
Roadmap: The National Advertising Initiative – Failing at Consumer Protection and at Self-Regulation: Appendix B – Listing of TRUSTe Complaints Regarding NAI From 2000 – 2007
Note: The World Privacy Forum relied on the TRUSTe WatchDog reports to compile this table. For the reports, see: