Why the corporate data protection community needs a stronger voice against campaigners

The privacy discourse is often one-sided: regulators and campaigners are vocal (“fundamental rights violated”, “illegal consent”), and few want to push back in public (lawyers because they are not keen on voicing their opinion, businesses because they fear drawing attention to themselves) – even though the GDPR *allows* interferences with privacy and data protection rights and Art. 7(4) GDPR allows *some* consent-contract combos.

As a result, the real debates occur mostly in courtrooms, where several parties speak in turn and present arguments in full. Even then, they aren’t always civil (a lawyer once called me a liar twice in one session – what I said was 100% accurate but he assumed I meant something else each time).

For this reason, I was pleased by the (positive) reception of recent publications in which I have pushing for a real debate on key issues affecting notably onlineadvertising and adtech, but also more broadly every single digital service.

Here is a recap of some of those recent initiatives, to show that there *are* other sides to a given story – and that just because something comes from the business side doesn’t make it evil and illegal.
[If you are on that business side and need a hand, reach out, and I will be glad to help.]

1. Podcast “Masters of Privacy”, �Could core advertising components fall under the �strictly necessary� ePrivacy exemption?� (40 minutes, with an excellent intro by Sergio Maldonado summarising some of the arguments on the more “campaigner” side, followed by an exchange on some of the issues regarding online advertising, including ePrivacy, the GDPR, data as a commodity, cookieless, and consent)
Link: https://lnkd.in/ev_s5C7T

2. Op-Ed on LinkedIn: “Maybe no consent needed for advertising under ePrivacy “cookie” rule?” (more in-depth textual explanation of some of the elements discussed during that podcast)
Link: https://lnkd.in/ezYeGSi4

3. EDPB ePrivacy consultation responses: two sets of responses to the European Data Protection Board’s guidelines on the technical scope of Art. 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive, with a view to highlighting concerns of various organisations and some of the scenarios in which these guidelines would have the opposite effect of what is intended
– IAB Europe submission, highlighting notably how these guidelines would neuter privacy-friendly initiatives (link: https://lnkd.in/ediZ4Cxq )
– Submission by our firm on behalf of clients wishing to remain anonymous, highlighting notably the key role of validation for both contextual and targeted advertising (link: https://lnkd.in/e67zSX3a )

4. LinkedIn post on “Pay or OK” and the problems caused by recent regulatory positions: https://lnkd.in/e6ZsyfPN

If you would like such publications on another topic, let me know which one is on your mind!