Companies Say PETs Can Help Build Trust With Regulators
CHICAGO -- Privacy enhancing technologies (PETs) are "becoming a crucial part of the advertising ecosystem,” Google Government Affairs Manager Alex Propes said on a Wednesday keynote panel at the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) ad law conference. PETs can be helpful inside a business and during tough conversations with privacy regulators, other panelists said.
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PETs are "more than just a defensive strategy," but also a "catalyst for innovation,” said Propes. They reduce the risk of unwanted tracking, allow companies to consider new uses for data and strengthen consumer trust, he added. The web wouldn't exist without ads, but with a growing number of negative headlines, “we need to figure out how, as an industry, we can improve our practices, improve our data practices and build trust."
PETs are "about minimizing [data use] while maximizing insights and using technology as a basis for that,” Propes said. The tools fall into two categories, said the Google official: Some affect data inputs that go into a product; others affect outputs, “such as the type of information you may be sharing with other companies.”
Walgreen Chief Privacy Officer Natalie Laporta said there’s a good business case for PETs. The business benefit is that PETs limit data sharing with third parties, she said. PETs prevent “oversharing” data that's of big value to the business, she said. Laporta added later that companies “can tell a better story" by practicing privacy by design and being "intentional" about protecting data.
The regulatory case for PETs is obvious, said Charles Simon, vice president of private advertising for RTB House, an ad tech company. “If you're in front of a regulator and you can attest to your [use of] differential privacy” or other PETs, “you are far less likely to actually face a regulatory action.”
Privacy laws in the U.S. may not specifically call out PETs, but all the statutes carve out aggregated and deidentified data, noted Perkins Coie’s Meredith Halama. "They only regulate personal information and personal data," the privacy lawyer said. If a company uses a PET to convert personal information into data that doesn't qualify as such, "then you are now outside of ... the law."
Halama urged industry to demonstrate PETs to regulators, showing how they can make reidentifying someone very difficult. However, don’t use terms like PET or “clean room” in a “disingenuous” way, she said.
“Education is key,” agreed Simon. The more advertisers adopt them, the more that regulators will pick up on PETs’ value, he said. LaPorta added that more companies talking to regulators in the same way about what PETs do will help to build trust.