Tech Lab Launches 'Privacy Enhancing Tech' Taskforce

In the US, digital advertising technical standard-setting body the IAB Tech Lab has launched a Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) Working Group, in response to the industry's need to develop alternatives to third-party cookies and other identifiers.

A part of trade association the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau), the non-profit Lab is tasked with producing and helping companies implement global technical standards and solutions for the digital media and ad industries. Its new PETs Working Group invites developers, data scientists, privacy and security systems engineers, and others in the digital advertising community to come together to develop privacy-enhancing standards and software tools for the digital ad industry.

PETs are technologies currently used by enterprises in the insurance and financial industries to maximize data security and minimize the use of personal data. Tech Lab's SVP Product Shailley Singh (pictured) says the integration of such technology in the ad industry will 'instill confidence' in upholding user privacy, preserving the security of first-party data, and fostering safe data management.

In 2020, IAB Lab launched 'Project Rearc', a cross-industry initiative to address consumer demands for personalization and privacy through behavioral standards, codes of conduct, legal agreements and enabling technologies. Since the launch, the Lab team has been developing a portfolio of solutions to support addressability and the sustainability of an ad-funded Internet. Singh adds: 'As we move forward into the new phases and approaches to this challenge, our Privacy Enhancing Technologies Working Group will be essential to enabling addressability solutions that are inherently private and data secure to ensure consumer anonymity across the digital advertising landscape'.

Web site: www.iab.net .