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Of which Google is a founding member and the only traditional ad publisher (AdSense/AdX/etc) who serves ads to 3rd party properties. [1] I'm sure they have plenty of control to shape the standards to their benefit. In other words, the "consortium" is biased by Google themselves.

[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/coaltion-for-better-ads-launc...

Are you sure about that?

https://www.betterads.org/members/

edit: I see you stealth edited your post.

The Wall Street Journal is a member of the group, and on page load it covered the article with an ad.

Were consumer advocacy groups included in that consortium?

Of course not. But even if they were, it'd be only for show. They wouldn't have a say in anything.