Understanding, Monitoring Pixel Technologies Key to Avoiding Litigation, Experts Say
With the influx of pixel-tracking litigation in recent years, it’s important for businesses to be aware of what tracking technologies are deployed on their websites and platforms, how they work and how consent is gained from users, as well as to continue checking in on these pixels in order to avoid litigation, said industry professionals during a panel Tuesday at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's Public Policy & Legal Summit.
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“It pays to actually take a very concerted, detailed look at each [of the] individual tracking technologies that you deploy on your platforms,” said Andrew Shaxted, senior managing director at FTI Consulting. This means “understanding what data elements each of those tracking technologies do” when deployed, as well as “having a proper accounting of the technologies, the data elements, and then further, almost a topography as to where those tracking technologies are fired and under what circumstances.”
He said one of the big issues right now is that companies assume that as long as they have consent, they can implement whatever technologies they want on their platforms and websites and never check on them again. “It is not a set-it-and-forget-it tool,” Shaxted said. “It requires some TLC; it requires, actually, a significant amount of upfront configuration.”
Another thing that helps is having cookie banners appear immediately upon accessing a website or platform, said Ian Ross, a partner at Sidley Austin. “The real advantage of having a banner upfront, before any third-party technologies are running, is you're going to get consent upfront,” he said. But you have to ask “are disclosures robust enough” or “sufficiently detailed to explain what’s running” to make sure you’re doing it right.