Cookie Alternative Device Fingerprinting Is Dealt Another Fatal Blow

This week, BBB National Programs' privacy watchdog, the Digital Advertising Accountability Program (DAAP), issued a new compliance warning regarding the practice of fingerprinting. And, with it, dealt another body blow to the cookie-alternative tracking mechanism. Under compliance, ad companies that track people on mobile across apps for ad-targeting purposes must notify them that their data is being collected. It also requires companies to let people opt-out of receiving such targeted ads. This is in tandem with the ad industry’s privacy code. “Entities that use fingerprinting techniques to identify users or devices for IBA [internet-based advertising] are required to provide the same level of transparency and choice to consumers as they would if using an Advertising ID for the same purpose,” the warning reads. The compliance was issued after growing privacy concerns around fingerprinting. The audience tracking mechanism has come under fire in recent years by regulators and browser makers like Apple, Mozilla and Google for being too invasive and hard to opt-out of. With No Third-Party Cookies, Brands Must Prioritize Martech “Any time information is collected and disclosed, there is a risk of harm to that individual,” said IAPP’s research director Mark Thompson. “What that harm is and the scale of it is going to depend on the data points, the transparency and the expectations.” Reliable yet pervasive Device fingerprinting combines attributes of a device—such as IP address, operating system and language, screen resolution, touch support and timestamps—to identify that it's unique. It's a mechanism that companies have used for a few years now as a tracking method, alongside others like third-party cookies. In order to get a range of visibility about a potential customer, plus with third-party cookies on the chopping board, more organizations are increasingly familiarizing themselves with fingerprinting, said Thompson. Exactly how much fingerprinting is still currently being used is unclear, but public opinion is definitely souring and fingerprinting is unlikely to have a long lifetime. People can delete cookies from their browsers. The likelihood of them resetting their IP address or changing their operating systems is low, which makes fingerprinting a more reliable—and more pervasive—method to track people on the web. Transparency is key for brands Fingerprinting helps brands analyze and track their ad performance—and better understand their website audience. While some brands rely more on cookies, others gravitate towards device fingerprints, depending on the purpose of the targeted ads. As the industry coalesces around more privacy-centric practices, it's more widely accepted that people should be aware of the data that's being collected, for what purpose and given choice over whether they can opt-out, said Thompson. Over time, more tech will emerge offering this choice. “But what that looks like is going to be something that we're going to have to watch over the next 12 to 18 months,” he said.