This post was written by Christopher G. Cwalina, Amy S. Mushahwar and Frederick Lah.

On August 15, the Federal Trade Commission issued an advisory opinion letter saying that it has no present intention to challenge the Council of Better Business Bureaus’ accountability program for companies engaged in online behavioral advertising. The program is designed to hold those companies accountable for compliance with the Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising, which were released by the FTC in 2009. While the FTC’s analysis was limited to competition law, it still signals a step in the direction of self-regulation for the online behavioral advertising industry. In our Client Alert, we review the requirements of the program and take a closer look at the FTC’s analysis.