Reimagining your Digital Identity: Part 1

Cirus Foundation

Published in

Cirus Foundation

5 min readOct 26, 2021

A review of the current ad-tech landscape and intro to the Cirus approach.

Warning! Technical Jargon Ahead

This article is heavy on the technical-side, but gives good insight into what we’re doing differently, and how it compares to the current ad-tech landscape. The next article in this series will dive more into how blockchain makes it possible.

The Current User ID Landscape

Attempts by the advertising community to better target users are increasingly centered around various identity-based solutions, formed by consortiums of ad-industry players. This has been especially true since Google announced that it is doing away with third-party cookie support from its ubiquitous Chrome browser.

Even before the announcement, subsequent postponement and temporary withdrawal of Google sandbox, and its federated learning of cohorts (FLoC) -amid industry backlash, privacy concerns and anti-competitive accusations - the advertising community was already working on alternative identity management solutions.

One such global initiative is Unified ID (UID) from Trade Desk. TradeDesk’s Unified ID 1.0 aimed to eliminate the cookie-syncing process for buyers and sellers of the advertising ecosystem and help to identify audiences effectively. They did this by creating a centralized process, managed by TradeDesk, that created a standard unique identifier for the users on the open web that could be shared between the players in the ecosystem. From DSPs to SSPs to DMPs, anyone could use the UID 1.0 to identify the users and trade ad impressions rather than creating their cookie-based user IDs and then later syncing their cookies and IDs with other platforms. This solution still has a limitation though, as it is ultimately dependent on third-party cookies which, as we already know, have a limited lifespan.

“This solution still has a limitation though, as it is ultimately dependent on third-party cookies which, as we already know, have a limited lifespan”

Unified 2.0 was then introduced as an industry-wide initiative. It operates independent of cookies, improves privacy for consumers and is open source, so it could be used by all the parties involved in the supply chain. The mechanism of Unified 2.0 is built on a single sign-on product of TradeDesk, wherein users can log-in to the websites with a single click, providing them easy and seamless access to multiple sites and apps. Because of the single sign-on, users would be saved from maintaining different credentials for different websites (publishers). This will also make identifying users easier across all channels — desktop, mobile, and CTVs (Connected TV’s).

While UID 2.0 also allows the ad inventories to get higher CPMs (Cost per Thousand ad-Impressions) for more relevant advertising, it does not use any identifier other than email ID, and depends on authentication by email logins to identify the users. As such, it will not work for users who have not shared their email address. The solution is also aimed at large publishers only. Small, medium, and startup publishers will have a difficult time supporting it, as there is no direct relationship with users from day one.

Other solutions, like Epsilon’s Core ID, Neustar’s Fabric ID, Zeta Global’s Identity Graph and IDR Technology operate in a similar fashion, and are even interoperable with UID 2.0, but all present the same problem:

“In all of these approaches, the end-users have little to no say in how the players in the ad-ecosystem monetize their identities.”

In all of these approaches, the end-users have little to no say in how the players in the ad-ecosystem monetize their identities. All of the ID Solutions may provide cross-site/app anonymity, but essentially require the users to give up one or more direct vectors (Name, email address, phone number, physical address, etc.) to their everyday life only to get targeted by ads — relevant or not. It’s not a good tradeoff for the user, and only select parts of the ad-tech ecosystem truly benefit from its implementation.

The Cirus Identification Framework

The Cirus Identification Framework enables users to measure their digital presence, digital footprints, and journeys across the devices in their household, and link it to their ID, which can be monetized. The user will provide their data and will be issued a public and private key. Users keep the private key to edit or delete their profile and can decide to share certain types of data selectively.

The public key is then available to share with content providers to access their content and services. Publishers collect the public key from the user, and ad tech players use the public key to access that user’s profile and deliver targeted ads to the user. Ad platforms can also use the public key to build a user profile based on interactions with ads or content, but users will still maintain complete control of their profile.

How Users Benefit:

Avoids the need to link their digital and real-world identities explicitly, while still enjoying the benefits of ownership & monetization.
Complete control over their digital identity used by the advertisers, and the right to delete it.
No need to share their details with entities like TradeDesk.
Finer control over frequency capping (The number of times a particular ad can be shown) means higher ad relevance while still being paid for their activity.

How Demand Side Players Benefit:

Target the Relevant Users with accurate results across platforms
Eliminate ad fatigue and implement cross-platform frequency capping
User’s privacy is not compromised.

How Supply Side Players Benefit:

Ad relevance is higher, and Ad Inventory is more effectively utilized.
Privacy-compliant cross-platform user targeting
Data-driven campaigns with elevated CPMs i.e. higher value

The end result is a framework that benefits all parties involved. Users maintain a measure of control, while being compensated directly, and the ad-tech world becomes more efficient, with less waste and higher value throughout. All of this can be accomplished without reinventing the wheel or having to completely change existing infrastructure. It does, however, represent a paradigm shift away from the current framework, where approaches for monetizing identity are being made untenable — by Apple’s IDFA for example — or being disrupted by large, centralized entities like Google making sweeping changes to the underlying technology (by eliminating third-party cookies and attempting to replace them with a controversial system).

In the next article we will discuss how blockchain is utilized within the Cirus Framework to enable its enhanced features, and create a system where all players can benefit.

Cirus Foundation Mission — Our mission is to accelerate the ownership economy by building the on-ramp for individuals to own, manage and monetize their largest digital commodity — Data. Watch our introductory video to find out more or read our project overview.