eyeo and Fractal team up to tackle privacy challenges
At the beginning of 2021, we launched Crumbs, our latest privacy-first product, which allows users to have transparent and visualized control of their data. This was our response to not only one of the largest needs and user requested functionalities in our present online reality, but one we truly believe will pave the way for the future as online advertising undergoes ground-shifting changes.
We did not stop there. Today we are happy to announce that we teamed up with Fractal, an open-source protocol for exchanging ad-relevant data in a fair and open way, who shares a similar vision. We know that in order to tackle all these major challenges happening in the privacy world, we need to join forces with like-minded companies, as this can make us stronger in our endeavours.
Fractal Founder Julian Leitloff says, “We are thrilled to work with eyeo and industry pioneers such as Rotem Dar and the wider eyeo team. With a shared vision of democratizing data and giving users more control of their privacy, this partnership represents an opportunity to create a level playing field for data availability in the ad industry.”
The two companies will work on the research and development of a new open-source standard to govern data exchange. As has become clearer and clearer to many of us, cookies are becoming a thing of the past, and that means we need a new way to manage the data exchange between users and advertisers. And our first step is to actively work on a solution that doesn’t just replace cookies, but improves upon the data exchange to the mutual benefit of all parties. And of course at the heart of this is also maintaining and protecting user privacy.
As this new partnership takes off, eyeo will support Fractal in building an open-source protocol for exchanging information online, including information designated for programmatic advertising, based on blockchain. This protocol will enable the verifiability of data while ensuring user privacy and data ownership. The two companies will also support the research and development effort of a new, widely-accepted industry standard to govern data exchange and break up proprietary data silos, making marketing information more accessible to smaller content creators such as blogs and niche publications. The web keeps evolving, and part of that should be a more purposeful infrastructure for data and value exchange, designed to ensure fair usage for all involved parties.
For users, this means full control over who should be able to access their personal data and on what terms. And once the user is no longer interested in sharing their information, they can simply revoke the access. For advertisers and publishers, the protocol will offer a sustainable alternative and stable value system to ensure that the content we all benefit from will be incentivized properly and the web can remain a free, accessible place.
It’s our mission to constantly strive for an equitable, functioning internet that empowers users and respects user experience. This is a huge step in that direction, and we’re excited to work with Fractal and other partners to constantly pursue our mission and find new ways to support a balanced and healthy internet.
