daa-begins-‘onboarding’-publishers-seeking-to-use-its-ccpa-opt-out-tools

The Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) is now rolling out “onboarding” for companies seeking to use its California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) opt-out tools. The DAA previously announced the initiative last month; it will “go live” on January 1, 2020 when CCPA formally takes effect.

Ad choices redux. Modeled on the long-standing ad choices icon and approach, the DAA opt-out tools will enable consumers to block the sale or transfer of their personal data “across all of the DAA participating companies integrated into the new tools, from a single website or app.” There will also be a parallel system for mobile apps and in-app advertising.

While the DAA initiative won’t cover the entire universe of publisher sites and platforms, DAA members include the IAB, American Association of Advertising Agencies, American Advertising Federation, Association of National Advertisers, Better Business Bureaus National Programs and the Network Advertising Initiative. That coalition of organizations suggests the DAA’s mechanism will be widely adopted.

DAA tools are one piece of a larger solution. Regardless of whether the DAA tools are used, every publisher meeting the statutory criteria provided by CCPA is required to present consumers with “a clear and conspicuous link on the business’s Internet homepage, titled ‘Do Not Sell My Personal Information,’ to an Internet Web page that enables a consumer, or a person authorized by the consumer, to opt-out of the sale of the consumer’s personal information.”

The DAA reminds publishers and other stakeholders that adopting its opt-out notification and other tools is not a substitute for specific legal advice about CCPA compliance — there are other requirements beyond the consumer-data opt-out provisions. The organization intends to offer more information on a new site: privacyrights.info. It says that companies interested in using the DAA tools can get more information there but the current content is directed primarily at consumers.

Why we care. The DAA is one of a number of entities seeking to help companies address CCPA. The IAB is also offering a compliance framework for publishers and technology providers. It’s generally complementary to what DAA is doing. There are also a number of private software companies offering compliance solutions, such as TrustArc and LiveRamp, among many others.

Even though CCPA kicks in on January 1, 2020 there won’t be any enforcement until July 1 at the earliest. That means there’s still time to prepare even if you haven’t started. But don’t wait until the end of Q1. If you need more background, context and advice, start here.

More about CCPA and consumer privacy regulation



About The Author

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes about the connections between digital and offline commerce. He previously held leadership roles at LSA, The Kelsey Group and TechTV. Follow him Twitter or find him on LinkedIn.



mozilla-begins-charging-for-services-–-starting-with-firefox-premium-support-for-enterprises

Mozilla’s foray into paid services is finally kicking off for real.

The Firefox maker is rolling out a new offer for organizations that run the browser in enterprise environments with a premium support plan.

Costing $10 per supported installation, Firefox Premium Support will provide several benefits, including capabilities to submit bugs privately, get critical security bug fixes, and even contribute to the browser and its roadmap, as noted by Ghacks.

This will the company’s first paid-for product, and it’s aimed squarely at businesses.

Mozilla has been ramping up its paid efforts in the recent months since CEO Chris Beard confirmed the company’s plans for a premium version of Firefox. It briefly tested an ad-free news subscription service and it’s currently piloting a VPN for desktop users in the US.

Mozilla’s revenue is mostly from Google being the default search engine on Firefox, but it’s crucial that the company looks beyond the search giant as it positions itself as a purveyor of privacy-centric tools and products.

Read next:

Apple’s revised policy for kids’ apps allows devs to collect anonymized data and display ads

google-begins-penalising-domain-leasing

Google issued a warning about sites that lease out its own subdomains and subfolders so that other companies can rank their content better on leased domains. Well, now it seems Google is taking action by penalizing those sections of sites that have these leased out sections.

Glenn Gabe posted examples of sites getting hit on his Twitter stream:

OK, quick update. EU *and* US sites are being impacted. Just noticed the coupons section of a weather site saw a big drop. Google is def. backing up their stance on domain leasing. https://t.co/C0SJDUVRQe pic.twitter.com/HdIUiXs8ll

— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) August 28, 2019

Is Google starting to roll out the improvements for detecting third-party content on leased subdomains and subfolders?

I received these screenshots a few hours ago.

However, as only one operator seems to be affected, my guess would “not yet” & that it’s a more targeted action. pic.twitter.com/15lCKAg3ZX

— LoisH ? (@theloish) August 26, 2019

It appears that Google started to roll out improvements that detect unrelated third-party content placed in subfolders.

Subdomains seem so far unaffected.

Which led to the slightly perverse effect of operators using subdomains seeing an (temporary) increase in visitors. https://t.co/slyIxto9S6

— LoisH ? (@theloish) August 27, 2019

Here are more examples:

Also international https://t.co/Ls8KDvl4hq en https://t.co/zMPmFygvw1 have traffic at -40% #seo pic.twitter.com/ddR5IPLWO2

— Yvo Schaap (@yvoschaap) August 28, 2019

So I guess the main sites are not getting hit but the leased out portions of those sites are being hit.

Forum discussion at Twitter.