How This Briefing Works
This dossier opens with key findings, then maps the gap between what Sonobi discloses and what BLACKOUT observed at runtime. From there: what it means for your organization, what to do about it, and the detection evidence underneath. BLACKOUT observes runtime browser behavior and cites the regulations that address each pattern — legal determinations are your counsel's call.
At a Glance
across 2 sites
vendor fires before consent
Briefing
Sonobi provides header bidding and programmatic advertising infrastructure with behavioral targeting. Detected BTI codes indicate session recording (C07), behavioral biometrics (C06), consent bypass (C09), fingerprinting (C10), and defeat device behavior (C01). Perfect legal tail risk score reflects ad tech architecture that initiates tracking before consent collection.
What This Means For You
Header bidding exposes your audience to entire programmatic ecosystem before consent. Competitors using same DSPs can target your visitors across the web. Meanwhile, privacy controls block 40%+ of behavioral targeting, systematically reducing CPMs for remaining inventory. Perfect legal tail risk means every pre-consent impression creates regulatory liability.
Risk Channel Breakdown
Programmatic bidding relies on behavioral profiles that are increasingly blocked by privacy controls. If 40%+ of users cannot be targeted behaviorally, CPMs collapse and revenue attribution becomes systematically biased toward trackable users.
Header bidding exposes your visitor inventory to dozens of demand-side platforms. Behavioral profiles are shared across programmatic ecosystem for auction optimization, training competitor targeting models.
Expands attack surface
Ad serving before consent collection violates GDPR Article 6 and ePrivacy Directive. Every pre-consent impression creates independent violation. Perfect legal tail risk reflects ad tech architecture fundamentally incompatible with consent requirements.
Threat Indicators
Runtime-observed (BTI-C)
Evasion infrastructure, auditor bypass
Keystroke/mouse tracking
Full session replay
Ignoring CMP signals
Device identification
Per-code narrative explanations of what each detected behavior means for your organization
Per-code evidence with full attribution chain, severity rankings, and consequence narratives See pricing →
Claims vs. Reality
BLACKOUT analyzed Sonobi's public claims against observed runtime behavior and identified 1 contradiction.
Full claim-vs-reality gap analysis with claim text, observed behavior, severity, regulatory citations (GDPR, CCPA, ePrivacy), and evidence pointers per gap See pricing →
What To Do
4 for current users · 3 for evaluators
contractual leverage points
Role-specific actions (security / legal / marketing / procurement), full negotiation brief with contractual language, and BTI-code-specific consequences See pricing →
Supply Chain & Pairings
Full supply-chain mapping (loads / loaded-by lists with vendor identities) and the undisclosed-subprocessor list with observation evidence See pricing →