With the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) now less than a year away, many individual businesses are gearing up to become compliant with the new regulations when they come into effect in May 2018.
Whilst some business are lagging behind, as shown in a recent survey that revealed over a third of businesses have no idea if GDPR even applies to them, some other sectors are taking great leaps forward. Some businesses are even seeing interesting opportunities opening up due to the new regulations.
The world of online advertising is one such sector that is looking to maximize the positives presented by the new regulations.
According to the advertising technology firm MadHive, it is the use of so called BlockChains that are the key to taking advantage of GDPR, and helping to make the new regulations work for you – at least in terms of online advertising.
One of the key tenets of the new GDPR revolves around the collection and storage of online data. Where this crosses over with the advertising world is that, in the past, such data collection and storage has been crucial to allowing online advertising platforms to secure essentially an online profile of each individual Internet user, via their IP addresses.
This information could then be used to tailor online advertisements to match the browsing history, allowing for far more targeted advertisements.
Under GDPR the harvesting of this data suddenly becomes more problematic and subject to tighter restrictions. BlockChains allow this information to be harvested and stored in a manner that complies with GDPR.
As we move into a new era of online privacy protection, it is key that businesses find new ways not just to survive but also to thrive in the new digital landscape. BlockChains and their proponents, are looking like early front runners to help to achieve this.