On the heels of releasing the final technical specifications for the Transparency and Consent Framework last week to address user choice and other aspects of compliance with the notice, transparency, and choice requirements set forth in the GDPR (European General Data Protection Regulation), IAB Tech Lab and IAB Europe are introducing an additional supporting tech spec—pubvendors.json (a publisher’s list of vendors)—and the much awaited mobile in-app support for the Framework is also being released for public comment. Both tech specs build upon initial adoption of the Framework, with over 120 vendors registered on the Global Vendor List.
The pubvendors.json tech spec is intended to:
Provide a standard for publishers to publicly declare the vendors that they work with, and their respective data rights/configuration
Allow vendors to verify publishers’ GDPR settings and verify/audit Consent Management Provider (CMP) consent strings
Establish a standard way for publishers to white-list vendors
Enable publishers to limit purposes and features (consistent with the Framework) on a per-vendor basis
Mobile in-app enables app developers to access and honor the Framework’s consent and legitimate interest mechanisms as a supporting standard to assist with GDPR compliance. CMP API endpoints and app developer local storage are specified, which enables the mechanism of collecting and propagating consent, so third-party vendors can operate in respect of users’ and publishers’ choices. App developers continue to have flexibility in defining user experience for exposing purposes and controls, as per the Framework.
“The feedback from publishers since we launched the public consultation on the first version of the specs for the Transparency and Consent Framework included a couple of strong messages,” noted Townsend Feehan, CEO, IAB Europe. “First, publishers wanted even more control with respect to data processing purposes, notably to be able to authorise different partners to leverage different purposes. Second, they wanted more control over which legal bases their partners could adduce. The pubvendors.json solution is a rapid response to accommodate these requirements.”
“These additional tech specs are a direct reflection of our commitment to the flexibility and adaptability of the Transparency and Consent Framework, to ensure that it meets the needs of publishers and other parties in the supply chain,” said Dennis Buchheim, Senior Vice President and General Manager, IAB Tech Lab. “The continued dominance of apps in mobile environments made supporting tech specs on that front particularly vital, and we’re pleased that our working group moved quickly to close that gap.”
After public comment concludes on June 1, 2018, IAB Tech Lab and IAB Europe participants will evaluate and incorporate feedback received and release a final version of each of these specifications. Companies with urgent transparency goals are invited to adopt the pubvendors.json technology as a beta implementation, even before the specifications are finalized.
To review the proposed pubvendors.json technology specification and the mobile in-app specification, please visit http://www.iabtechlab.com/gdpr