Google may have to play nice in W3C in Privacy Sandbox, thanks to U.K. antitrust authority’s role as referee

It’ll all be different now that the U.K.’s antitrust authority has come to the rescue.

At least, that’s what James Rosewell, CEO and co-founder of 51Degrees, a small ad tech fish in a Google-dominated pond, hopes will happen now that the country’s competition oversight agency is expected to play a role in the process Google has guided in developing cookieless tracking and targeting tech.

The Worldwide Web Consortium — an international web standards body also known as the W3C — is hosting the Privacy Sandbox initiative to develop methods for tracking, ad targeting and measurement to replace third-party cookie-based approaches. But Google is driving the initiative, which it developed in connection to its now-delayed plans to disable third-party cookies in its much-used Chrome browser. And ad tech providers like Rosewell feel like Google’s involvement has unfairly tipped the Privacy Sandbox process in the digital ad giant’s control.

The balance of power could shift, though. The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority has investigated the competitive implications of Google’s Privacy Sandbox proposals, and on June 11, the government regulator announced Google had agreed to facilitate the CMA’s participation in the initiative. The CMA’s involvement could make the Privacy Sandbox process more equitable, according to Rosewell, who also leads a small advocacy group of “just shy of 20” unnamed members called Marketers for an Open Web.

“The CMA has power over Google,” said Rosewell. On behalf of Marketers for an Open Web, he has lobbied the government agency to take a more aggressive part in overseeing the way Google is remolding the technical underpinnings of how firms like his gather and use data for advertising. “The CMA’s involvement changes the dynamic of Google’s engagement with the rest of the industry including the W3C,” Rosewell told Digiday, adding that the agency “can be there and just call foul, and give in the red card, using soccer terminology.”

‘A substantial investment’

The CMA could end its investigation of the company if it approves Google’s commitments to be more transparent, open and fair in its Privacy Sandbox efforts. For that reason, Google’s decision announced on June 24 to extend its deadline for killing off the third-party cookies was driven in part by pressure from the government agency. According to the CMA’s analysis of Google’s Privacy Sandbox, “Some market participants have claimed that Google’s engagement with stakeholders, through the W3C, has been limited and of a very technical nature, which limits the potential for participation and examination of Google’s proposals by third parties.”

Google promised the CMA it will take several actions to make sure it doesn’t force new ad techniques on the industry that benefit its business while harming others. If the CMA accepts those commitments, they will become mandatory under a court of law. One of those commitments: “Google will, at the CMA’s request, seek to facilitate the involvement of the CMA in discussions on the Privacy Sandbox in the World Wide Web Consortium or any other fora.”

The regulator is making …read more

Source:: Digiday