.entry-header In December 2016, when then-President-elect Donald Trump summoned tech leaders to Trump Tower for a roundtable discussion, there was considerable debate about whether or not executives like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google’s Larry Page, Apple’s Tim Cook, and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella should accept the invitation. I argued that they absolutely should in this Daily Update […]
Ad Tech


WTF is a data clean room? – Digiday
Advertisers’ attempts to break down data’s walled gardens have found a second wind. The emergence of so-called data clean rooms, safe spaces where insights gleaned from the walled gardens are commingled with first-party data from advertisers for measurement and attribution, is gathering pace as media trading becomes more addressable. As much as these safe spaces […]

That Game on Your Phone May Be Tracking What You’re Watching on TV – The New York Times
Android screenshots of the app Honey Quest, which uses technology that keeps tabs on the viewing habits of its users. At first glance, the gaming apps — with names like “Pool 3D,” “Beer Pong: Trickshot” and “Real Bowling Strike 10 Pin” — seem innocuous. One called “Honey Quest” features Jumbo, an animated bear. Yet these […]
As browser rivals block third-party tracking, Google pitches ‘Privacy Sandbox’ peace plan • The Register
Disclaimer: No advertisers were harmed in making this project On Thursday, Google reminded everyone who might have forgotten that “privacy is paramount to us” and announced an initiative called “Privacy Sandbox” that proposes paving over a few privacy pitfalls without suffocating its ad business. It takes a certain chutzpah for a company with such […]

‘Shooting,’ ‘Bomb,’ ‘Trump’: Advertisers Blacklist News Stories Online – WSJ
Like many advertisers, Fidelity Investments wants to avoid advertising online near controversial content. The Boston-based financial-services company has a lengthy blacklist of words it considers off-limits. If one of those words is in an article’s headline, Fidelity won’t place an ad there. Its list earlier this year, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, contained more […]

Publishers must prep for a cookie-less world by building walled gardens of their own | AdAge
Amid heightened concern around consumer privacy, Google is the latest browser developer to make policy changes that impact the use of cookies. In strengthening the privacy protections within its Chrome browser, Google has made it easier for users to block third-party cookies and harder for tech companies to fingerprint. With consumers bombarded by targeted ad messages that […]
Facebook Offers News Outlets Millions of Dollars a Year to License Content – WSJ
ABC News was among the news outlets that received a pitch from Facebook to license their content. Photo: Kena Betancur/Getty Images Updated Aug. 8, 2019 4:31 pm ET Facebook Inc. FB 2.71% is offering news outlets millions of dollars for the rights to put their content in a news section that the company hopes to […]

Life Fitness’s Advertising Platform Brings Programmatic Ads to the Gym – Adweek
Programmatic advertising isn’t just regulated to our computer screens anymore. Recent months have seen digital billboards in malls, airports and city streets go digital. Now, the trend is hitting the gym. Today, Life Fitness—a fitness equipment company that produces everything from treadmills to elliptical bikes for gyms, college dorms and hotels across the country—officially kicked […]

House Votes To Allow Internet Service Providers To Sell, Share Your Personal Information
The new Federal Communications Commission’s rules intended to limit how companies like AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, and Charter can use internet customers’ sensitive personal information are effectively dead in the water, thanks to a House of Representatives vote today to kill the regulations, making sure internet service providers can use and sell user data. The final […]

ICO admits its own cookie policy is non-compliant with GDPR | 1 | IT PRO
The organisation in charge of regulating UK data laws has confirmed it will be making changes to its cookie policy following complaints that its site was storing data without user consent. The Information Commissioners Office has admitted that its current consent notice relating to the use of cookies on devices failed “to meet the required […]