Digital Advertising Alliance Launches Opt-out Functionality For Hashed Phone Number Identifiers

Ad-Related Companies Can “Future-Proof” Their Identity Plans by Integrating DAA’s Token-ID-Based Tool for Email and Now Phone-Based Choices

 

The Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) launched new beta functionality allowing individuals to opt out of interest-based advertising (IBA) via the submission of “hashed” — or encrypted — phone numbers. In the past, the DAA’s Token-ID-Based Tool was designed to utilize hashed email addresses to exercise those choices. The newly enhanced tool is live and available for use in the United States and Canada.

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 “By launching opt-out functionality based on hashed phone numbers, we are creating a centralized choice infrastructure that can support both current and emerging technologies used for interest-based advertising,” said DAA CEO Lou Mastria. “As digital advertising companies consider the tools and identifiers they plan to use in the coming years, they should ‘future-proof’ their plans by integrating this comprehensive phone- and email-based choice mechanism into that roadmap, starting today.”

 The DAA’s Token-ID-Based Tool (also known as the YourAdChoices Tool) was launched in April 2021 to provide a way for individuals to opt out or revoke permission from companies that use a hashed version of an identifier like email or, now, a phone number to provide relevant advertising. (The “hashing” process encrypts the ID into a new, more secure “token” based on an algorithm.)

 Through the newly updated Tool, an individual can submit an email or phone number through the same hashing process, so participating companies can opt that token out of IBA. The DAA does not use the hashed identifier for any purposes except the opt-out process, and the hashed versions are automatically deleted after 30 days.

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 An opt-out/revocation request through the enhanced Tool does not apply to the tokens’ use for non-IBA purposes, such as measurement or fraud prevention, nor does it apply to other identifiers like cookies or device IDs used by a participating company. Consumers can separately opt-out of those identifiers through the WebChoices and AppChoices platforms.

 Companies participating in the beta test for the email and phone opt-out tools currently include Adstra, Foursquare, IQM, Knorex, LiveRamp, Merkle, GroupM’s [m]Platform, and Tapad.

 “We want to thank all of these companies, and the many others we’ve partnered with to bring this necessary functionality forward with the use of a simple integration and a future-proof API,” Mastria said..

 The DAA’s Token-ID-Based Tool is now available to companies that have integrated DAA’s other choice tools (WebChoices and AppChoices) at no additional cost to help spur adoption of these new privacy controls.

 “This newest privacy tool reflects the responsible advertising industry’s continued commitment to provide nimble self-regulatory consumer controls in the market as soon as possible,” Mastria added. “This tool helps ensure advertisers have ethical ways to engage with consumers, even as changes occur to identifier technologies and while work continues on passage of a federal privacy law.”

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