IAB Europe, the leading European-level industry association for the online advertising ecosystem, has appointed Patrick Verdon as technical director, a newly created role for the organization as it continues its mission to enable digital advertising to support media plurality and Europe’s digital economy, to shape the regulatory environment and to help companies process user data legally with the Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF).
Verdon brings more than two decades of senior technical experience to his role as the first technical director for IAB Europe. In his new role, one of his principal tasks is supporting the TCF technical updates that will provide a more complete accommodation of the “legitimate interests” legal basis for data processing. Plans are also in place for a new set of signals that allow Consent Management Providers (CMPs) to offer users the “right to object” to processing on the basis of a “legitimate interest” and new granular controls for publishers about the data processing purposes permitted by them on a per vendor basis. Most recently, thanks to Verdon’s guidance, IAB Europe recently announced the development of a new CMP validation tool for the TCF.
IAB Europe, with collaboration across the industry, released the open-source Transparency and Consent Framework in April 2018. It’s the only GDPR consent solution that has been built by the industry, for the industry, creating a true industry-standard approach. This framework is helping publishers, technology vendors and marketers speak in the same language when it comes to obtaining user consent for data processing after GDPR. Version 2 of the framework is due to be released later this year in association with IAB Tech Lab.
Verdon brings a strong track-record of working in the Internet and mobile spaces and has held CTO roles in several successful start-ups. Most recently, he co-founded Databoxer, a CMP for websites. On joining IAB Europe Verdon said “My role will be focused on driving both product development and technical implementation across the Transparency and Consent Framework. I am coming back to my roots to ensure that the policy governance of the Framework takes good account of technology considerations, so we release a robust and commercially friendly updated version for all global stakeholders”.
Verdon will also be the team lead for IAB Europe’s new Technical Committee, which will convene for the first time in May 2019, bringing together technology and business-side experts from IAB Europe member companies to ensure technical vetting of solutions the Association is driving to help the industry address challenges and leverage opportunities.
