IAB Tech Lab launches PETs Working Group to support sustainable privacy solutions

As part of Project Rearc, IAB Tech Lab’s PETs workstream invites developers working on advanced cryptography, 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 advertising industry.

PETs are sophisticated technologies currently used within the insurance and financial industries to maximise data security and minimise the use of personal data. The integration of such technology within the advertising industry will help instill confidence in upholding user privacy, preserving the security of first-party data, and fostering safe data management.

Explaining why the PETs workstream has been developed, Tech Lab says that as the industry has been developing alternatives to third-party cookies and other identifiers, it has become increasingly evident that a comprehensive set of new standards and technologies to support privacy-centric addressability and consumer data security is needed.

Shailley Singh, Senior Vice President, Product, IAB Tech Lab, explains: “In 2020, we launched Project Rearc as a global call to action to ‘re-architect’ digital marketing, and since then, we’ve been developing a portfolio of solutions to support addressability and the sustainability of an ad-funded internet. 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.” 

Want more info? 

• Read Singh’s blog post here

• Find out more about PETs and the remit of the new working group on IAB Tech Lab’s site
• The Tech Lab team will be running a three-part event series to educate the industry on PETs, along with providing updates on any developments from the working group. This is open to all IAB members and non-members. Find out more and sign up 
• You can request to join the PETs Working Group here