Re: MRC Industry Standards for Data Retention = 1-year

Thanks, Chris, I completely understand.  Item 17 of the standards seems 
to be the place to answer my own question, but it's very general:

---

17. Each rating service shall maintain, for at least eleven months from 
the end of the period covered by the report, all diaries and interviews 
(or a complete fac simile thereof), tape records and/or other primary 
sources of audience data. These shall include material actually used in 
the preparation of published rating rep0l1s as well as material 
collected but not used.

---

Anyway, thanks for the pointer.

best, Joe

PS: Kind of a pain in the rear that the standards document is locked 
down to prevent copying and pasting from it... had to do a screenshot 
and then an OCR to be able to paste the above in.

On 9/28/12 11:31 AM, Chris Mejia wrote:
> Hi Joe,
>
> Thanks for your inquiry.  Respectfully, I do believe there are answers to
> your questions in the MRC documentation and I refer you there.  As I don't
> work directly for the MRC, I should defer commenting on their standards,
> and leave that to dialog directly between you and them.  I am only
> relaying to this working group (per the request made of me) the Standard
> and resultant industry practice, as they are written and implemented-- I'm
> not here to defend it, negotiate it, nor poke at it-- it's not within my
> purview to do so.  I don't feel this is the appropriate forum for debating
> the requirements, merits and implementation details of another industry
> body's standards (MRC) and practice, especially when that body is not at
> the table.
>
> Kind Regards,
>
> Chris Mejia | Digital Supply Chain Solutions | Ad Technology Group |
> Interactive Advertising Bureau - IAB
>
>
>
>
> On 9/28/12 2:26 PM, "Joseph Lorenzo Hall" <joe@cdt.org> wrote:
>
>> I'm still not entirely clear, Chris... (although it's fascinating to see
>> such long-lived self-regulation that appears to work well for the
>> intended purpose.)
>>
>> Does the MRC accreditation just require advertisers to store a list of
>> URLs as you say? How does that enable auditing?
>>
>> Or is the data structure used in an audit more complicated? For example,
>> if I were to think of what would be needed as raw data for an audit, at
>> a high level, it would be more like "ad impression events" that would
>> include:
>>
>> * A timestamp of when the ad was shown.
>> * The ad identifier (and maybe a campaign identifier).
>> * A unique ID for the device or person to which the ad was served.
>>
>> Maybe I should just read the document. ::) Apologies if the answer is in
>> there and I've jumped the gun. best, Joe
>>
>> On 9/28/12 7:19 AM, Chris Mejia wrote:
>>> Hi Ed,
>>>
>>> My interpretation is that the party seeking MRC accreditation should
>>> store the URLs associated with circulation/audience counts (the "source
>>> data") for future verification for a period of 11-months + the month of
>>> collection (12-months).  What's your interpretation?
>>>
>>>
>>> Chris Mejia | Digital Supply Chain Solutions | Ad Technology Group |
>>> Interactive Advertising Bureau ­ IAB
>>>
>>>
>>> From: Ed Felten <ed@felten.com <mailto:ed@felten.com>>
>>> Date: Friday, September 28, 2012 1:48 AM
>>> To: Chris Mejia - IAB <chris.mejia@iab.net <mailto:chris.mejia@iab.net>>
>>> Cc: W3C DNT Working Group Mailing List <public-tracking@w3.org
>>> <mailto:public-tracking@w3.org>>
>>> Subject: Re: MRC Industry Standards for Data Retention = 1-year
>>>
>>> Chris, do you read the MRC document as requiring that tracking data be
>>> retained for one year?   Do you read it as requiring tracking data to be
>>> collected from opted-out users?
>>>
>>> On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 7:39 PM, Chris Mejia <chris.mejia@iab.net
>>> <mailto:chris.mejia@iab.net>> wrote:
>>>
>>>      I believe it was Jeff Chester who asked if I would research this and
>>>      come back to the working group with the results:
>>>
>>>      According to the Media Rating Council (MRC), the normal retention
>>>      period for "source data" required for industry accreditation of
>>>      third-party audience estimates is 1-year, as documented in their
>>>      published standards: "/Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research/"
>>>      (available for download at
>>>      http://mediaratingcouncil.org/MRC%20Standards.htm).  Depending on
>>>      the case however (and on a case-by-case basis), special concessions
>>>      may be made outside of this standard from time to time as deemed
>>>      appropriate by the CPAs/auditor and the MRC.
>>>
>>>      *About the MRC, their mission and authority:*
>>>      *
>>>
>>>      In the early 1960ıs a U.S. Congressional Committee held hearings on
>>>      the purpose and accuracy of audience research and considered
>>>      regulation related to the TV and Radio industries.  These public
>>>      hearings are commonly referred to as the ³Harris Committee Hearings
>>>      on Broadcast Ratings.²  After investigation and extensive testimony
>>>      the Committee determined that Industry self-regulation, including
>>>      independent audits of rating services was preferable to government
>>>      intervention.  The Harris Committee hearings resulted in the
>>>      formation of an Industry-funded organization to review and accredit
>>>      audience rating services called the Broadcast Rating Council (now
>>>      referred to as the MRC).
>>>
>>>      Aligned with the actions deemed necessary by the House Committee,
>>>      the activities of the MRC include:
>>>
>>>        * The establishment and administration of Minimum Standards for
>>>          rating operations;
>>>        * The accreditation of rating services on the basis of information
>>>          submitted by such services; and
>>>        * Auditing, through independent CPA firms, of the activities of
>>>          the rating services.
>>>
>>>      *
>>>
>>>      The Media Rating Council seeks to improve the quality of audience
>>>      measurement by rating services and to provide a better understanding
>>>      of the applications (and limitations) of rating information.  The
>>>      Bylaws of the MRC document the organizationıs mission as: ³to secure
>>>      for the media industry and related users audience measurement
>>>      services that are valid, reliable and effective; to evolve and
>>>      determine minimum disclosure and ethical criteria for media audience
>>>      measurement services; and to provide and administer an audit system
>>>      designed to inform users as to whether such audience measurements
>>>      are conducted in conformance with the criteria and procedures
>>>      developed.²  This mission was established with the support of the
>>>      House Committee.
>>>
>>>      More on the MRC at http://mediaratingcouncil.org/History.htm
>>>
>>>
>>>      Chris Mejia | Digital Supply Chain Solutions | Ad Technology Group |
>>>      Interactive Advertising Bureau - IAB
>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Joseph Lorenzo Hall
>> Senior Staff Technologist
>> Center for Democracy & Technology
>> 1634 I ST NW STE 1100
>> Washington DC 20006-4011
>> (p) 202-407-8825
>> (f) 202-637-0968
>> joe@cdt.org
>>
>

-- 
Joseph Lorenzo Hall
Senior Staff Technologist
Center for Democracy & Technology
1634 I ST NW STE 1100
Washington DC 20006-4011
(p) 202-407-8825
(f) 202-637-0968
joe@cdt.org

Received on Friday, 28 September 2012 15:47:18 UTC