David Temkin

Consultant and Advisor at Independent

Leading Google's Privacy Sandbox initiative and spearheading the industry-wide effort to deprecate third-party cookies while developing privacy-preserving advertising alternatives; his 2021 declaration against user-level cross-site tracking reshaped the identity landscape.

Standards SetterSan Francisco, California, United States15+ years in industry

Last updated Jun 11, 2026 by ATDb automated enrichment

Bio

David Temkin is best known as the driving force behind Google's Privacy Sandbox, the most ambitious privacy initiative in digital advertising history. As Vice President of Ads Privacy and Trust at Google, he led the multi-year effort to deprecate third-party cookies in Chrome and develop privacy-preserving alternatives — including the Topics API, FLEDGE/Protected Audience API, and Attribution Reporting API — that would allow the open web advertising ecosystem to function without cross-site tracking. His 2021 blog post announcing Google's commitment to not building alternative user-level identifiers sent shockwaves through the industry and fundamentally altered the identity landscape. Throughout his tenure at Google, Temkin operated at the intersection of technology, policy, and commercial strategy, engaging with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as part of formal regulatory commitments around the Privacy Sandbox. He was simultaneously responsible for bringing advertisers, publishers, and ad tech vendors along on a profound technical and philosophical transformation — a task that required extraordinary diplomacy given the competing interests at stake. His work made him one of the most closely watched and influential executives in AdTech during the late 2010s and early 2020s. Since departing Google, Temkin has emerged as an influential independent voice in the privacy and identity space, advising companies on privacy strategy, cookieless readiness, and browser-based advertising APIs. His rare combination of deep technical knowledge, regulatory experience, and industry-wide perspective makes him a sought-after consultant as the ecosystem continues to navigate the post-cookie transition — a transition he did more than almost anyone to define.

Previous Roles

Vice President, Ads Privacy and Trust

Google (2020-2023)

Director, Product Management, Ads Privacy

Google (2017-2020)

Senior Product Manager

Google (2013-2017)

Expertise

Privacy SandboxThird-Party Cookie DeprecationTopics APIProtected Audience API (FLEDGE)Attribution Reporting APIPrivacy-Preserving MeasurementIdentity ResolutionRegulatory Compliance and AdTech Policy

Notable Achievements

Led Google's Privacy Sandbox initiative, overseeing development of browser-based privacy-preserving APIs as replacements for third-party cookies
Authored the landmark 2021 Google blog post committing to not building alternative cross-site user-level identifiers, reshaping the industry's identity strategy
Negotiated and fulfilled formal regulatory commitments with the UK's CMA and ICO regarding the Privacy Sandbox, setting a precedent for regulatory oversight of browser privacy changes
Guided the ad industry through the most significant technical and privacy transformation in programmatic advertising history

Speaking Topics

The future of privacy-preserving advertisingCookie deprecation and cookieless readinessBrowser-based advertising APIs and the Privacy SandboxIdentity solutions in a post-cookie worldRegulatory compliance and AdTech policyBalancing privacy and advertising effectiveness

Publications

Charting a course towards a more privacy-first web (Google Blog, 2021)
Building a privacy-first future for web advertising (Google Blog, 2021)

Connections