This article originally appeared in Adweek on January 28, 2020.
Today, if you can believe it, is the 14th annual international Data Privacy Day, and as the ad-tech industry marks off Jan. 28 on the calendar, companies are reflecting on the early impact of the California Consumer Privacy Act.
Public awareness about how personal data is used as a transactional currency is rising, and a survey released today by FormAssembly shows businesses are still grappling with how to move forward. Speaking recently with Adweek, one publisher spoke of how media companies were lately “operating in the dark” since CCPA—a law affecting companies around the world that possess data on the Golden State’s nearly 40 million residents—came into effect on Jan. 1, and that the challenges were likely to get steeper.
For ad-tech companies, foundational questions of existence are part of every conversation, but so is trying to navigate some of the unintended consequences of the legislation.
