The Digital Signage Group, the advocacy and standards arm of Point of Purchase Advertising International (POPAI) focusing on the digital signage industry, published the industry’s first code of conduct for the utilization and deployment of consumer tracking research and technology.

More than 18 months in development, the code of conduct provides recommendations to marketers on maintaining ethical boundaries with consumer data and suggestions on how consumer observations and marketing insights should be collected and used.

“While the code of conduct is voluntary, it is an important first step in creating an industry-wide consensus about how to address the concerns that come along with the exploratory use of observed tracking data,” said Richard Winter, POPAI President.

“As digital out-of-home (DOOH) media continues to trend towards greater identification and surveillance capability, it is important that our industry regulate itself,” stated Bill Gerba, POPAI Digital Group advocacy chair and CEO of WireSpring Technologies. “It is very likely that DOOH media will one day regularly identify individual consumers, putting our industry on a direct collision course with consumer privacy. These guidelines serve everybody’s best interests, including the consumer’s, by establishing credible and transparent standards before the problem hits center-stage.”

The code of conduct can be downloaded here.