SafeFrame 1.0 isolates externally served content (such as ads) from web page content to prevent external access to sensitive data while enabling transparent and rich interactions between the webpage and the external content.

Currently, an ad that provides rich functionality or external HTML content is served to a webpage alongside the webpage’s code and content. This method for serving interactive content to a webpage enables the external code to read and change a website’s data and page structure. These changes often occur without the webpage's ability to detect them, which means that the website has no control or insight over the actions of the external content and cannot compensate for any resulting negative effects. In addition to the lack of transparency, these undetected changes can break page code, causing an increase in operational costs to the website owner.

SafeFrame 1.0 offers a solution that prevents external HTML content from accessing the website and its sensitive data by framing and rendering the content from within a secondary domain. An API enables communication between the webpage and the external content to allow for any rich interactions.
With the implementation of SafeFrames, the ad experience is not only more transparent and controlled but a minimal layer of protection is established for the website owner. Other impacts include reduced operational costs to the site owner and increased revenue potential. Some key benefits to digital advertising include:

• Consumer Protection
  Ads shown from unfiltered sources, such as ad exchanges, are isolated from the publisher's domain and any sensitive or otherwise personal information that may display on the webpage, such as email content or banking information.
• Publisher Control
  The isolation between publisher code and ad code enables publishers to maintain control of the page layout and limit interference from ads. Using the SafeFrame API, publishers also have the ability to decide what website information (if any) should be exposed to which advertisers and vendors.
• Publisher Efficiency
  With the implementation of SafeFrame, publisher control prevents ad code from breaking page function, reducing operational cost and improving revenue potential.
• Standardized Advertiser Layouts
  Advertising technology providers may standardize their ad code so that it can run on any publisher network that adheres to the SafeFrame API protocol, reducing operational costs.
• Support for Viewability and other Industry Initiatives

SafeFrame 1.0 offers mechanisms to support viewable impressions under development by 3MS as well as the DAA's AdChoices and other privacy initiatives.

In fact, SafeFrame offers increased privacy controls previously unattainable in standard iframes. Also, the transparent communication enabled by SafeFrames establishes a foundation onto which support for other industry initiatives can be built.

To use SafeFrames, website owners must implement the SafeFrame API and identify a secondary domain to store a JavaScript library for processing served content. Also, advertising technology providers or other external content providers will need to modify on-page HTML code according to these specifications if they want to use the API to communicate with a SafeFrame-compliant website. Most standard content won't need any modification.