Most of the Web is funded through advertising and the sharing of user data but the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - which goes into effect on May 25, 2018 - and the ensuing ePrivacy Regulation could prevent businesses from processing and sharing that data without user's explicit consent.
Fortunately, there are some solutions emerging which aim to provide an alternatives to the data-based advertising funding models that are currently at risk.
Berlin-based
contentpass, for example, recently announced a GDPR-compliant privacy solution designed for digital media and content providers.
The offering will enable Web content publishers to offer "banner-free and tracking-free browsing", the latter as a major GDPR compliance protocol, without losing revenue. The contentpass solution is
essentially a subscription based servicethat pays publishers the average CPM rate charged on a given website.
The company indicated they are planning to beta test the product with publishers in the coming weeks to ensure general availability when GDPR takes effect.
"We offer EU-based Internet users the option to consume all the digital media they desire, all while protecting their privacy and without advertising banners and associated tracking," said Dirk Freytag, contentpass CEO and founder. "contentpass enables the content providers to be fully compliant all while maintaining the ability to generate revenue."
"This need for consent required by GDPR puts the established data-based advertising funding models at risk. contentpass provides an alternative: "We give readers of online media such as USA Today, The New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, etc. a real choice: They can either explicitly consent to sharing of their data, as they have implicitly done in the past - they 'pay with their data' so to speak - or they pay a fair price for banner and tracking-free browsing," Freytag continued.