TRUSTe Gives Mpire's AdXpose Its Seal of Approval For Outstanding Data Privacy Practices

SEATTLE, Aug. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Mpire, the market-leading advertising verification and optimization technology company, and TRUSTe®, provider of the leading online privacy trust mark, jointly announced today that TRUSTe has certified Mpire's Web privacy practices and verified that the customer data management practices of its AdXpose™ verification and optimization platform uphold Mpire's privacy and customer data usage commitments. The TRUSTe seal will reside on the AdXpose site and platform, giving agencies, networks and advertisers added confidence when they engage AdXpose to protect and optimize their media.

"The question – 'Who is verifying the verification companies?' – has been posed in multiple venues, but never adequately answered until today," said Kirby Winfield, Mpire's president and chief revenue officer. "Being the leader in the ad verification and optimization space, we're an outspoken advocate for greater transparency throughout the online advertising industry.  The TRUSTe Seal unequivocally communicates that our own business practices stand up to the same level of scrutiny that advertisers expect of the rest of the industry."

Winfield continues, "When a new market emerges quickly with no recognized standards or best practices, customers can be at risk.  That's why we approached TRUSTe – we wanted to be the first company to step up and be held accountable by a trusted and credible privacy authority."

Verification services traditionally collect data ranging from content and context to geographic and domain detail. Advertisers, publishers and privacy advocates have expressed concern that this data might be misused or even resold by companies with inadequate oversight, security or risk management policies, or those seeking to create additional revenue streams.  Earning the TRUSTe Web Privacy Seal demonstrates Mpire's commitment to transparency and accountability, which are foundations of online privacy.

"TRUSTe has broken important new ground in the online advertising ecosystem by working with AdXpose to certify its data practices," said Chris Babel, CEO, TRUSTe. "From this collaboration, we've created new best practices and benchmarks that, for the first time, gives agencies, advertisers, networks and publishers a standard by which to measure their verification vendor's data operations and privacy policies."

The TRUSTe certification process included two main phases: data collection practices and presentation.  TRUSTe reviewed AdXpose's data collection management practices to ensure data was not used for unauthorized purposes or accessed by third-parties.  Mpire's internal access was also reviewed to ensure only essential employees were granted access to client data, and that privileges could be revoked.

The second phase reviewed the AdXpose Web portal and API to ensure access to data was encrypted and available only to the client.  Finally, the AdXpose privacy policy was modified and given TRUSTe's certification and seal of approval for meeting the highest standards of client privacy.

"Ad verification is a valuable tool for marketers and agencies, with the potential to catalyze brands' utilization of more scalable display advertising solutions and accelerate the shift of offline advertising budgets to the online ecosystem. AdXpose is taking an important step in seeking third-party certification, which we expect will accelerate adoption of this important market innovation," said Robert Coolbrith, Vice President, Equity Research – Internet and Digital Media at ThinkEquity LLC.

About TRUSTe

Thousands of companies rely on TRUSTe's leading privacy trustmark to enhance consumer trust, drive increased registrations and transactions, and comply with complex privacy requirements. Consumers know that when they see the TRUSTe seal they can "Click with Confidence" because the certified website is responsible with their personal information. TRUSTe has certified more than 40 percent of the top fifty websites including Facebook, Yahoo!, Microsoft, eBay, AOL, Adobe, AT&T, Comcast, Disney, Weather.com, Apple, LinkedIn, Web MD, and Yelp. TRUSTe also certifies many of the top advertising and technology service providers for websites. For additional information on TRUSTe and its services, please visit http://www.truste.com.

About AdXpose

AdXpose Analytics help advertisers and platforms verify and optimize billions of campaign data points captured in real time. Agencies representing the major holding companies, multiple Demand Side Platforms, and more than 20% of the comScore Ad Focus Top 40 Properties, currently use AdXpose technology.

About Mpire

Mpire is the market-leading advertising optimization technology company that is evolving traditional online advertising into a more relevant and engaging medium for publishers and advertisers. Its patent-pending and award-winning AdXpose™ is the first and only verification and optimization technology suite that gives brand marketers and agencies transparency and confidence anywhere their ads run across the Internet, including exchanges, ad networks and direct publisher placements. Backed by Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Ignition Partners, Mpire is based in Seattle, Washington.

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SOURCE Mpire Corp.