It's the What Not the Who When it Comes to Privacy Concerns

The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

You talk about a product with a friend and you see an ad for it. You think about a product and you see an ad for it. You dream about a product and you see an ad for it. That’s not magic — that’s cookies!

Google GOOGL and Facebook FB collect information about what websites you visit, what terms you search for, where you’re located, etc., which directly influences the ads that appear to you.

Ad tech companies walk a fine line between cutting-edge technology and invasion of data privacy. So how can you tell which companies store your personal data, and which ones are ethical?

Ethical companies are privacy compliant and respect personal information. They also need to be transparent about how they collect and store data without using confusing jargon for their own sake. There also needs to be user consent when accepting cookies.

But there are some ethical ad tech companies out there that do without cookies — like Alfi Inc. ALF.

Intelligent and Respectful

Alfi is a digital out-of-home (DOOH) artificial intelligence company that powers computer vision with machine learning models to target ads. Its software turns a digital display into an intelligent screen that can detect audiences and serve the right messages to make their media more valuable and effective.

What’s impressive about Alfi is that although it may seem like there could be a possible invasion of privacy because it involves a camera, it’s designed to be strictly ethical.

Traditional camera operations seen in malls and airports could involve facial recognition. On the other hand, Alfi’s technology is not designed to store any images or additional personal information as there’s no facial recognition involved — only facial detection to analyze patterns and emotions.

Alfi CEO Paul Pereira explained recently that the company’s technology uses the camera as a sensor to determine the “what” and not the “who.”

The automation works ethically and respectfully without tracking, storing cookies or using identifiable personal information. There is no user consent required as it does not collect or store any kind of personal data. With the technology, ad agencies are empowered to examine real-time analytics data including interactive experiences, engagement, sentiment and click-through rate, otherwise unavailable to out-of-home advertisers.

Strong Compliance Standards

The company’s advertising campaign is compliant with Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Since Alfi is compliant with the GDPR, it has to follow a checklist that ensures its data collection method is transparent, governed, secure and offers privacy rights. By law, the company has to set up a GDPR coordination team, appoint a data protection officer, create a new data breach procedure, draft a new internal privacy policy and ensure local compliance.

“Every business that wants to be successful and remain in business must harness the power of data reporting ethically and responsibly. The power of Alfi is not just chatter but real solutions delivery, in an ethical and respectful manner, with full privacy compliance,” Pereira stated.

Photo: Alfi

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.