TPUT

ParOne’s TPUT (Tee to Putt User Token) enables partners to track video, ad, and call-to-action metrics on a per-user basis. You may provide a user email or some other UUID via the tput parameter.

What is ParOne’s TPUT system?

TPUT enables a deeper understanding of your content than ever before. TPUT can be used to create enhanced content recommendations to increase user engagement, better target ads to certain users for increased revenue generation, or tracking videos viewed during an instrutional series of courses.

This feature comes with ParOne’s Enterprise Video Player with no additional cost.

ParOne hashes the value stored instead of encrypting the data before sending it back to ParOne for analytics and data tracking. ParOne uses this hash to group analytics for a user. Hashing this data means ParOne does not store any user information.

Hashing vs Encryption

Encryption algorithms take input and a secret key to generate random output called a ciphertext. This operation is reversible. Anyone who knows or obtains the secret key can decrypt the ciphertext and read the original input.

Hashing functions are not reversible. Hashing performs a one-way transformation on an email or UUID, turning the email into another string, called the hashed email. “One-way” means that it is practically impossible to go the other way – to turn the hashed password back into the original email. In authentication systems, when users create a new account and input their chosen email, the application code passes that email through a hashing function and stores the result in the database.

Hashing is a cryptographic process that can be used to validate the authenticity and integrity of various types of input. It is widely used in authentication systems to avoid storing plaintext emails in databases but is also used to validate files, documents, and other types of data. Hashing is almost always preferable to encryption when storing emails inside databases because in the event of a compromise attackers will not get access to the plaintext emails.

Data privacy and security are paramount concerns. ParOne offers a robust and GDPR-compliant solution for hashing emails for analytics tracking, ensuring the protection of sensitive user information while adhering to stringent data protection regulations. Organizations can confidently safeguard email addresses while remaining compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

ParOne’s approach goes a step further in compliance with GDPR by not storing personally identifiable information (PII) in its databases. Instead, only email address hashes are retained. This data minimization strategy aligns seamlessly with GDPR’s principles, which emphasize the reduction of unnecessary data processing and storage. As a result, the risk of data breaches and privacy violations is significantly reduced, as the actual email addresses remain untraceable, even within the organization’s own systems.

ParOne utilizes industry-best practices and state-of-the-art cryptographic algorithms to transform email addresses into irreversible hashes. This method ensures that the original email addresses cannot be reverse-engineered from the generated hash, guaranteeing a high level of data security. The hashing process does not involve the storage of actual email addresses, effectively minimizing the risk of data breaches and privacy violations. Furthermore, ParOne’s implementation adheres to GDPR’s strict guidelines by ensuring data minimization, consent-based processing, and robust security measures, all of which are fundamental principles of the regulation.

Configuration

To pass in a user’s email or another UUID, simply add an attribute to any ParOne video player code snippet via the tput attribute.

<!-- Pass in a user email -->
<parone-video-block tput="user@domain.com" />

<!-- Pass in a user email that is already hashed -->
<!-- This will not be hashed -->
<parone-video-block tput-hashed="e8400b946afc94e671ad856dbe6d963f" />

Reporting and Tracking

Through ParOne’s hashing and data minimization procedures, this means that ParOne cannot show you the user information. To see which UUIDs are your most fervent fans, you must provide an API for ParOne to get a list of current users which passes through to our reporting dashboard every time you view the report. ParOne does not save this list, furthering ParOne’s commitment to data privacy. Likewise, you can pull the raw tracking data out of our system and into your own reporting to combine with your user information without passing into our reporting dashboard. You can view more information by reviewing our Viewer Analytics API.