The Update: Preserving Ad Privacy

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>> MIKE: We’ve seen a change in people’s awareness of

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how their data is used—and their expectations.

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And that’s actually really a good thing.

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You know, an interesting data point around this is searches for “online privacy”

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have grown globally more than 50 percent year-over-year.

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>> NEHA: In this episode of The Update, I talk with Mike Schulman,

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the head of Ads Privacy and Safety,

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about how Google is working to improve user privacy

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while preserving the ad-supported internet.

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Mike, can you tell us more about your role leading Ads Privacy and Safety at Google?

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My team is really focused on ensuring digital advertising is safe and

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effective so that it works for users, publishers and advertisers,

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and can continue to support the open internet.

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How has the ads team responded to the increased focus on and

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concerns for privacy?

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Privacy isn’t a new priority for Google.

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It’s been a long-time focus and

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we’ve introduced a number of tools over the years

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like, ad settings and activity controls.

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We never sell your information to anyone and

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we don’t use your emails, documents or sensitive information

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like race, religion or sexual orientation for advertising purposes.

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Users really do prefer personalized ads,

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but only if those ads protect their privacy and

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offer transparency and control.

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So we’ve taken steps to increase transparency into

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how digital advertising works,

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offer users additional controls and really ensure that

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people’s choices about their use of data

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are respected and not worked around or ignored.

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Can you tell me a bit more about

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transparency and control—the two of them seem to be linked.

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We consistently hear that users really prefer ads that are relevant to them,

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versus the ads that kind of feel like they’re appearing at random.

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But concerns really arise when people have experiences

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with ads that they can’t understand.

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Like when it’s not clear what information about them is being used

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or what companies are involved.

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So that’s why we offer tools like Why this Ad,

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where from an icon in the ad itself,

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users can get more information on why they’re seeing the ad

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or even choose to stop seeing that ad altogether.

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In this area, we’ll be making improvements to this experience

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including providing more information to the users about the ad,

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like the verified name of the advertiser.

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Mike, you mentioned something important about protecting

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people’s privacy and ensuring that their preferences aren’t worked around.

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What are some of the things that users need protection from?

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Some companies involved in digital advertising use opaque techniques

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to gather data about individual users or track them covertly.

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Fingerprinting, which involves collecting very specific information

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about someone’s browser or their device to identify

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and track them, is just one example.

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But there are other methods that are being used that aren’t clearly disclosed,

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and don’t offer really the transparency control that users expect and need.

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So we believe any attempts that try to track these people

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without permission really should be blocked.

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In talking with a number of advertiser clients and publisher partners,

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I know that most of them want to do right by users,

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and they want to prioritize privacy.

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But they’re also facing the reality of increasing business pressures

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—more so during COVID-19.

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Do you see a trade-off between user privacy and being able to

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deliver on some key advertising and monetization requirements

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that marketers and publishers have?

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It’s important to remember that the ad-supported internet

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really depends on user trust.

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If we continue with some of these practices and

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deliver on some of the experiences of the past,

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we’re actually putting the future of the open internet at risk.

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We’re focused on improving privacy for users

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while also supporting the ad-supported internet.

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That means coming up with alternative ways and new technologies

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to accomplish these key advertising use cases.

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I’m confident that we can do both.

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And it’s not just Google who will do this

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—we’re working across the ads ecosystem and

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the web standards community to make this happen.

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I know that the Chrome Privacy Sandbox is a big part of this plan.

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And for those who aren’t familiar,

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it’s an effort that the Chrome team is leading

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with the web standards community

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to develop a new set of technologies for the web

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that is more privacy-protecting than third-party cookies are.

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What is the latest over there?

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Really good progress.

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Since the Privacy Sandbox was announced last August,

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there have actually been several proposals published for new APIs

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that would solve some of these key advertising use cases

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conversion measurement,

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—all in a way that doesn’t reveal any information

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about individual users

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or keeps that identifying data on the user’s device itself.

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One of the proposed APIs for trust token that could combat ad fraud,

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is actually already being tested by developers

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and I expect that we’ll see more proposed APIs in live testing soon.

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Our ads team is contributing to this dialogue and some of the proposals,

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and we expect to incorporate them in our own product roadmap

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But we can’t solve this alone.

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For this to succeed, we really need the involvement

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of partners across the industry.

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So, it’s been really good to see the proposals

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that other companies have submitted as well.

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What else do you have in the works besides the Privacy Sandbox?

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Within the ads team, we’re exploring a range of other approaches

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to improve user privacy, while still ensuring that publishers can earn

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what they need to fund great content

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and advertisers can still reach the right people for their products.

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For example, we support the use of advertiser first-party data

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to deliver more relevant and helpful experiences across sites

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—as long as users have transparency and control over the use of that data.

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We’re also continuing to invest in machine learning,

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which can be used to make our advertising products work

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without collecting raw data from users’ device

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or help fill in the gaps when data isn’t available.

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For all the marketers and publishers watching this today,

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what tips do you have for them when it comes to investing in first-party data?

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There really aren’t any shortcuts here.

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The more that a business has meaningful,

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direct relationships with a customer,

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the more opportunity they’re going to have.

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that really means using what you know about your customer

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to strengthen those relationships and find new customers like them.

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that means understanding your users and their preferences,

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so you can build better experiences for them,

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both in content and in ads.

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We published two new playbooks

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—one for marketers and

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—with lots of really good suggestions on this topic and real-world examples.

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So, I’d really encourage everyone to go check those out.

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Mike, you shared a lot about Google’s approach,

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but the digital ads ecosystem is a pretty crowded space

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with different companies participating.

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How do you ensure that user experiences improve across the board

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—not just for ads that Google is showing?

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The industry really needs to come together to align on a new set of standards.

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It’s just not enough for one or two companies to change their practices.

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Last year, we shared a proposal for industry-wide privacy norms

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around the use of data for ads

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and we’re now working to revise it based on the feedback we’ve heard.

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We’ve also been working on a new tool to provide people

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with detailed information about the ads they see on the web.

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It’s called the Ad Transparency Spotlight,

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and it’s now available for everyone to try out

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as an extension in the Chrome web store.

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We’d really love to hear feedback from folks,

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so let us know what you think.

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Thanks for the insights Mike.

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This has been great.

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Do you have any final thoughts to share?

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I think a lot of people might be feeling uneasy right now.

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We’re in a period of transition,

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and there’s still a lot of uncertainty about

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what the end state for privacy and ads will look like.

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On top of that, we have all the business pressure

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that has intensified because of COVID.

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But really, we’re asking you—please don’t sit on the sidelines

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or continue with kind of business as usual.

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Make sure your organization is having an active discussion about privacy.

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Contribute your perspective to some of these industry forums

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and take steps now to really prepare for the future.

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