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Privacy-Preserving Attribution: Testing for a New Era of Privacy in Digital Advertising (blog.mozilla.org)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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An update on Mozilla's PPA experiment and how it protects user privacy while testing cutting edge technologies to improve the open web.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago (12 children)

Companies get extra data through Firefox, which now acts on behalf of the ad corporations.

But advertisers have better options, both for reach, or for privacy. They can simply do A/B testing on their own, without involving a third party...

Method:	PPA	Topics	Using different links
Corporate creator	Facebook	Google	-
Needs users to trust 3rd party?	Yes (Mozilla)	Yes (Google)	No
~% browsers it works on	<3%	>60%	100%
Guaranteed privacy increase?	No	No	No*

*If you trust the advertiser, they can do it on their own. If you don't trust the advertiser, then the additional third party does nothing.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (10 children)

Companies get extra data through Firefox

You mean extra data compared to them using any other advertising model, like google advertising? Do you have a source for this?

Because that is what PPA has to be compared to, and not to no ad measurement at all. It‘s meant to be replacing other advertising measurement techniques.

The comparison chart looks like it‘s copied from somewhere, would you mind sharing? I wouldn‘t mind a deeper dive into the topic.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (3 children)

That is correct: why would any corporation choose to sideline their current advertisement model by creating an extra solution that doesn't even tap 3% of the market, while abandoning the data collection they already have?

If you trust the advertisement company to provide private ads, they can do it without the browser working on their behalf.

And if you don't trust the advertisement company, there's nothing the browser can do to make their ads list privacy invasive... Besides blocking it.

The source to the table is me, but I can provide the article that inspired it.

[–] ahal 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The mere fact this technology exists gives legislators a tool in their toolbox. I could imagine a future where the EU mandates use of PPA in certain circumstances.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Or more importantly, forbids the use of privacy-invasive methods of measuring ad performance.

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