PRESS RELEASE

Austin, Texas – October 3, 2019 – Osano, Inc., a B-Corporation bringing data privacy transparency to the world, today announced the availability of its SaaS-based data privacy platform that helps companies easily monitor and manage their privacy and compliance obligations. Osano helps companies decide which vendors they want to work with, comply with privacy regulations, and efficiently collect and store consent for verification.

Data privacy and compliance used to be a manual, complicated process. Osano makes data privacy and compliance easy, fast and affordable for all companies to comply with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and other privacy regulations. Osano created the world’s first data set that objectively measures the data privacy practices for more than 7,000 companies. Using a 163-item ontology, Osano’s algorithms evaluate details like transparency, whether a company collects unnecessary data, how long they store data, and how easy they make it to remove any data. Osano customers use Osano to assess privacy practices of companies they share data with and better manage risk. More than 750,000 companies use Osano’s free tool to generate more than two billion consents per month.

“The last 20 years, the Internet has been the Wild West, and between public opinion and government action when GDPR came into effect last year – that era ended,” said Arlo Gilbert, co-founder and CEO at Osano. “When a company buys from Osano, it means they are more transparent in how they deal with online data privacy. It means they think twice about the pixels on their websites and what data they collect and store. It’s a small step in making the Internet a better place as a whole – and that’s something we get excited about at Osano.”

Data Privacy – Beyond Compliance

The average company shares data with 750 different vendors, even though they believe they share with only 40. There is no easy way to track what happens with that data once it is shared or for companies to manage their privacy obligations.

Privacy practice implications go well beyond compliance. Data privacy practices correlate with security risks, ethics, and a company’s bottom line. Osano research shows that companies with a poor privacy rating are 10 times as likely to have a security breach in the next six months. This prediction is evidenced by the Osano ratings of several companies with high-profile security incidents, including Capital One, Equifax and Quest Diagnostics.

“Good privacy practices are symptomatic of a company that takes care of data and security as well,” Gilbert continued. “We believe that data privacy is a fundamental human right, and the companies that embrace privacy will become the next wave of trusted brands.”

A New Era, Where Privacy Comes First

Osano helps marketing, sales, and compliance teams work together to protect customer privacy and comply with regulations. Osano is building a machine-learning based system to automate data privacy around the web. The data privacy platform includes comprehensive monitoring, management, advisory, and developer API capabilities:

Monitoring

·       Vendor Risk Monitoring – Easy-to-understand breakdown of all SaaS vendors, privacy scores, data transfers, and risk factor in an instant.

·       Policy Change Detection – Daily updates on all selected vendors, including changes to published privacy policies or other compliance documents.

·       Vendor Lawsuit Alerts – Real-time alerts for lawsuits filed against various vendors in federal, state, and district courts.

·       Privacy Law Alerts – Real-time alerts for upcoming changes or requirements based on new international, federal, and state legislatures.

Management

·       Consent Management – Instant website compliance with privacy laws of 40 countries with only a single line of JavaScript. Osano intelligently blocks unsanctioned third-party cookies and displays consent dialogs in any of 32 native languages. Consents and revocations are recorded in Osano’s private quantum blockchain as cryptographically verifiable proof of consent in the event of a data subject request.

·       GDPR Representative – Instant compliance with GDPR Article 27 via Osano International Compliance Services LTD (the company’s Irish subsidiary in Dublin), including a local team of EU data privacy experts and attorneys.

Advisory

·       Ask a Privacy Expert – Live feedback and guidance around best practices and laws (including questions on PII, responding to data requests, or general opinions about privacy policies).

Developer

·       PII Tracking API – Developers can build privacy directly into their applications and workflows with Osano’s highly scalable API that can handle recording more than one billion records per day.

Osano founders will pitch on the main stage for Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco 2019 on Thursday, October 3, at 1pm. Startup Battlefield showcases the top 2.6% of those that applied and the most promising early-stage and fundamentally disruptive startups.

Data Privacy and Compliance Made Easy

Founded in 2018, Osano is backed by $3 million in seed funding led by LiveOak Ventures, Next Coast Ventures, and Social Starts. Osano operates as a B Corporation, a unique business designation that means the company considers the impact of its decisions on employees, customers, vendors, the community and the environment, and balances purpose and profit.

Earlier this year, Osano emerged from stealth with the launch of Privacy Monitor, a free browser plugin and mobile app that helps consumers manage their privacy when dealing with websites, software vendors, and other service providers. To begin using Privacy Monitor, individuals can download it from the appropriate app store or install it in seconds by visiting www.privacymonitor.com. All Privacy Monitor plugins and apps are open source, never track user activity, and do not include ads.

RESOURCES

BLOG: It’s Time for a New Era, Where Data Privacy Comes First – www.osano.com/articles/introducing-osano

Osano Brand Assets – www.osano.com/company/assets

About Osano

At Osano, we believe that increasing transparency is for the good of the entire Internet. The web is built on trust, so websites, software vendors, and service providers should be held accountable for how they gather, use, share and handle users’ data. However, current privacy policies and practices mean that rights and responsibilities are known and understood only by service providers. Founded in 2018 as a B Corporation with a clear mission, Osano’s data privacy platform, services, and Privacy Monitor tools contribute to the education and transparency that represent the first step toward informing users and protecting data privacy rights. For more information, visit www.osano.com.

###