LiveRamp Builds Blockchain Privacy Solution for IAB

The IAB's Tech Lab has released a system called PrivacyChain for public comment and pilot testing. This blockchain platform allows companies to view consumers' privacy consents in a single up-to-date register.

The initial version of the system was developed by LiveRamp, an active member of the Lab, and is designed to provide a repository for consumers' current 'consents' - in other words the permission they have given for different types of their data to be used in different contexts, already a highly complex area. IAB Tech Lab says it has become 'incredibly difficult to ensure that all members of a data supply chain have the most current consents'. The protocol will allow companies to more easily manage and control how they handle and share users' personal data, while providing users control over opt-in and opt-out.

Blockchain systems provide a 'shared, immutable, distributed ledger' - a standard reference database in which each record can be viewed by any user but altered only by those with permission, usually the people the record refers to. In this case, the PrivacyChain will provide a single, consistent, up-to-date view of a consumer's opt-ins and opt-outs. As well as helping consumers to safeguard their privacy, this is intended to simplify companies' ability to prove compliance with various privacy regulations and with their own privacy policies.

Dennis Buchheim (pictured), SVP and General Manager, IAB Tech Lab, says the protocol 'offers a new approach for listening and responding to consumers preferences' and 'helps members navigate the new world of privacy regulations'. Sheila Colclasure, Chief Data Ethics Officer at LiveRamp, comments: 'Consent is a person's expression of choice over how their personal data is collected and used. It is vital we respect and honor these individual choices and practice human-values-centered data ethics. PrivacyChain is a data ethics enabling technology and we are proud to collaborate with the IAB Tech Lab to produce a protocol which helps solve the consent challenge for the adtech industry'.

For the testing period, the Lab has released a reference implementation and a test bed available at IAB Tech Lab tools portal https://tools.iabtechlab.com. The open source repository is available at https://iabtechlab.com/privacychain/code.

Established in 2014, the IAB Tech Lab is headquartered in New York City with staff in San Francisco, Seattle and London.

Web sites: www.iabtechlab.com and www.liveramp.com .