Why are traditional ads dangerous?
Most ad platforms, including the ones from Google and Facebook, have a broad customer segment and therefore need additional data to match advertiser dollars to a fitting publishers.
To do so, many existing networks are deploying tracking techniques that follow you around the internet (usually wherever else these scripts are implemented, but for Google pretty much all around the internet) and will try to create a detailed customer sheet, based on your traffic.
If you're leading a blog, platform or community and are using these networks, you are directly putting your users at risk.
What is the solution?
In the past few years, a lot of privacy-preserving ad solutions have popped up. In these cases, the networks are usually built for a certain niche – be it travel, health, tech or anything else. Your job is it, to find a network which best resembles the niche you are targeting beforehand, so that no other data needs to be collected.
Another solution would be to simply sell your own ad spaces. The same way that billboards don't need personalized data to work, and bring in a lot of revenue for their owners, you can also sell your an advertisement space on your own site. This does not only not require any personal data, it can also help you get a larger share of the cake.
Where can I find a private ad provider?
We are biased of course, but we allow you to sell your own billboard-like ad spaces on your own site. No tracking needed, no personal data needed. The best part? You're getting a much, much larger piece of the cake, than with a large scale network.
Carbon exclusively runs on websites targeted to developers and designers, and is one of the biggest players in that area. Especially upcoming developer-focused tech startups love to advertise here, as they can reach their target audience the easiest.
CodeFund is similar to Carbon Ads in terms of customer segments. They exclusively run on developer-focused websites, and put a lot more emphasis on displaying ethical and relevant ads without any user tracking.
Running a travel network? The Travel Ads Network exclusively displays adverts of and for the travel industry, and can therefore help any travel-focused site get a higher click ratio, and therefore larger earnings.
Seriously, we probably don't have to go through every single niche here. Just look for "Ad network for <your niche>" and we're sure you'll find something!