The Association for Online Publishing (AOP) will be providing its members with a centralised pool of verified cookie data, via a single login, in collaboration with The Media Trust.
The initiative will give publishers the information and communications channel they need to manage the risk posed by these technologies that, if unchecked, could undermine compliance with data protection regulations including GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive.
The Media Trust will scan AOP publishers’ websites to identify vendors and provide detailed information on cookies running across all members’ sites to determine their purpose and confirm whether they are GDPR compliant. This will dramatically ease the process publishers would otherwise undertake to capture cookie data, enforce their cookie policies, prohibit when necessary, and – using the pre-approved vendor list – vet third parties.
Participating technology companies will also benefit by pro-actively having their cookies captured, classified, categorised, and shared by The Media Trust with all AOP publisher members. For vendors, this will help reduce the risk their cookies will be blocked, as well as significantly reduce time and effort they would otherwise invest in disclosing their cookies to individual publishers.
Richard Reeves, Managing Director at AOP comments: “By working in partnership with The Media Trust, our premium publisher members will be able to harness a platform to create transparency around the cookies placed on their sites. This is a significant step forward in policing and managing the risk around rogue cookie deployment. We’re pleased to be working alongside The Media Trust and we’re looking forward to rolling out the platform across our member base.”
“AOP’s initiatives will boost transparency in digital advertising and benefit consumers, publishers and their ad technology providers,” says The Media Trust CEO Chris Olson. “By helping them tackle their data compliance challenges, we fulfill our mission to make the internet a safer place for everyone. And as data becomes increasingly vulnerable and regulated around the world, having the tools and resources to monitor data collection will help publishers and ad technology companies build better relationships with consumers and digital partners, respectively.”
Today, the platform provides validated cookie information. As a next step, AOP will finalise protocols for how cookies will be classified and distribute them to digital partners for their acknowledgement. AOP has been working with its members to create an ‘Advertising Protocol’ as an addendum to the IO T&Cs. This is designed to make a declaration of the compliant terms and obligations required concerning the deployment of cookies at a base level, for the fulfillment of advertising activities on a publisher’s property. AOP intends to leverage The Media Trust’s platform as the principle means for distribution and implementation of the protocol, when it is rolled out later this year.