W3C Meets Ad Tech Drama
The W3C is negotiating a tricky influx of members and attention as it becomes an increasingly important stakeholder in online advertising. That’s because browser operators like Chrome, Apple’s Safari WebKit group, Microsoft Edge and Mozilla are the W3C natives, and are asserting more control over digital advertising by disabling cookies and web tracking with default ad-blocking tools. Of late, ad tech companies, web publishers and data vendors have flooded the W3C (the Improving Web Advertising Business Group, in particular) to lobby browser developers. There’s simmering tension in these working groups. Ad tech and publisher advocates are frustrated because they don’t have real power to affect change, and can only voice their opinions. All these new dues-paying W3C members also change its composition, just like when the IAB changed from a publisher-first trade body to one that represented all online advertising constituents. So browser developers and privacy advocates need to work harder to elevate their opinions. The W3C’s spirit of transparency, with precise public minutes and recordings, also spices things up. IAB disputes happened mostly in discrete meeting rooms, whereas W3C feuds are aired like dirty laundry. Protocol has more.