Mozilla Firefox is the latest browser implementing Global Privacy Control (GPC), taking initiative to help users control their privacy with a “do not sell my personal data” setting built right into its browser.
Widespread interest in data privacy has surged in recent years as dishonorable corporate data practices have come to light. Firefox prioritized this effort after it was made clear by California Attorney General Rob Bonta in July that under the California privacy law, companies are expected to treat the GPC signal just the same as any other do-not-sell request from consumers, which many companies have historically ignored.
OneTrust and Global Privacy Control (GPC) have partnered to help users control their privacy with a browser setting to communicate privacy preferences. OneTrust’s Consent Management Platform (CMP) is one of three CMP solution providers enabled to respect the new setting.
Interested in Supporting GPC Through Your CMP? Get started for free with OneTrust Cookie Consent Free Edition.
Why is Global Privacy Control important?
Firefox’s implementation of Global Privacy Control is a big deal because prior to the GPC, if a user wanted to ask a website or app not to share or sell their personal data, the process to do so would involve digging through a company’s website and submitting a “do not sell” request to each website they visit.
California residents have more protection than other locations under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), and companies must honor these “do not sell” requests. Tools like GPC enable easier management of personal data as more states contemplate passing data privacy legislation.
What is Global Privacy Control?
Global Privacy Control (GPC) is a browser setting that notifies websites of a user’s privacy preferences, such as not to share or sell personal data without their consent, by sending a signal to each site a user visits. Websites must respect users’ privacy rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) and legislation in other jurisdictions.
GPC is a collaborative effort developed by a coalition of privacy-focused publishers, tech companies, browser and extension developers, and civil rights groups.
What does this mean for you?
If you don’t want every website you visit to share your data, you can send a “do not sell” signal with GPC.
Presently, GPC is a pre-release feature only available for experimental use through Firefox Nightly, the browser’s testing and development environment, which can be downloaded here. But this release is indicative of imminent full support for the general Firefox browser.
Once turned on, it sends a signal to the websites that users visit, telling those websites that the user doesn’t want to be tracked and doesn’t want their data to be sold.
Read more about how to employ the GPC signal on Firefox Nightly here.
How OneTrust helps Support the GPC Signal
OneTrust supports the Global Privacy Control signal through our consent management platform (CMP). Customers can set a signal in the OneTrust environment under the targeting category to enable this feature. As a result, your website automatically accepts the visitor’s signal preferences.
In addition to using the GPC signal the OneTrust Consent Management Platform helps publishers and advertisers:
- Drive opt-ins and engagement – Track and analyze consent rates with pre-built, real-time dashboards and reporting, deploy A/B testing, and monitor to maximize opt-in rates.
- Earn audience trust – Demonstrate transparency and empower audiences with tools to control their consent and preferences.
- Protect your ad revenue – Support header bidding/pre-bidding and monetize content in new ways based on first-party data.
- Share signals – Sync with IAB TCF, IAB CCPA, Salesforce DMP, IAB TCF, Google DFP / AdSense / AdX, Google Tag Manager, Adobe DTM, and more.
- Integrate with existing tech stack – protect investments with easy integrations to other solutions such as Adobe Advertising Cloud, Facebook, FreeWheel, mParticle, Salesforce Audience Studio, and more
The implementation of Global Privacy Control has the potential to make a significant impact in your online privacy by opting you out of data sharing before it happens.
Want to learn more from an expert? Sign up for a demo.
Follow OneTrust on LinkedIn, Twitter, or YouTube for the latest on consent management.
