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In late spring of 2012, at the request of its soon-to-be charter members, StopBadware agreed to take leadership of the newly created Ads Integrity Alliance. The Alliance was launched as a collaborative multi-stakeholder initiative whose mission was to protect Internet users from deceptive and harmful ads.

After 18 months of working with the Alliance’s charter members to build up membership and establish common goals, StopBadware is stepping down as the initiative’s leader. Our decision to relinquish ownership of the Alliance is not an easy one; it is, however, the best way for us to remain faithful to our organizational values and our mission.

From the outset, the Ads Integrity Alliance was established as a member-driven initiative whose overarching strategy would be determined primarily by the companies that architected its creation. StopBadware’s role was to facilitate activities agreed upon by the members and to provide day-to-day operational support. Our influence in setting the Alliance’s overall direction and priorities was deliberately limited—a choice that served to firmly empower the executive committee and underscore the importance of member engagement.

The original core objectives of the Alliance included promoting information sharing among members, educating policymakers and law enforcement, and developing common definitions and best practices with respect to bad ads. From this perspective, StopBadware was a logical choice to lead the Alliance. As an organization committed to working with others to create a safer Web, our philosophy seemed to align well with the Alliance’s proposed approach to tackling bad ads.

In recent weeks, a majority of the Alliance’s charter member companies have expressed their desire to refocus their resources on more aggressively defending industry practices to policy groups and regulatory bodies. We respect that this is a sensible choice for the companies that make up the Alliance’s strategic leadership, and we unreservedly wish them success in their revised goals. At the same time, this new direction is not one for which StopBadware is capable of providing operational support or public leadership. To do so would exceed both the scope of our mission and the boundaries of our legal status as a 501(c)(3) organization. We are, therefore, turning over full ownership of the Ads Integrity Alliance to its executive committee.

We remain enthusiastically supportive of the work done by Ads Integrity Alliance members. Many of these organizations have devoted considerable resources to sharing information and ideas about how the industry can combat bad ads and better protect users. We sincerely hope this work continues among member companies, regardless of the aegis under which it’s done.

We have the deepest respect for the people who have helped support the Ads Integrity Alliance these past 18 months. Thank you for your commitment to making the Web a better place!