The problem zkAds solves

zkAds is a platform designed to revolutionize the way targeted advertising works, ensuring that your personal data remains secure and private. Here's how it benefits both users and advertisers:

For Users:

• Privacy First: Your personal information is never exposed to advertisers. With zkAds, you can enjoy a more personalized web experience without the fear of your data being harvested or misused.
• Relevant Ads: Only ads that are genuinely relevant to you are displayed. By using Zero Knowledge Proofs, zkAds ensures that the ads you see are tailored to your interests without revealing any of your personal data.
• Enhanced Security: zkAds uses advanced cryptographic techniques to keep your data safe. The platform's use of Zero Knowledge Proofs means that even the platform itself doesn’t know your personal details.
• Better Browsing Experience: No more irrelevant or intrusive ads. With zkAds, your web experience is smoother and more enjoyable, as the ads you encounter are relevant and non-invasive.

For Advertisers:

• Targeting Without Data Exposure: Advertisers can target users based on their preferences and behaviors without ever accessing their personal data. This ensures compliance with privacy regulations while still achieving effective ad targeting.
• Trust and Transparency: zkAds builds trust between users and advertisers by ensuring that all data processing is transparent and secure. Advertisers can be confident that the targeting criteria are met without compromising user privacy.
• Cost-Effective Advertising: By targeting only users who meet specific criteria, advertisers can maximize their ROI, spending their budgets more efficiently and effectively.

Why zkAds Makes a Difference:

• Simplifies Privacy Management: zkAds takes the complexity out of managing privacy for both users and advertisers. Users and advertisers don't have to worry about their data security anymore !

Challenges we ran into

Building zkAds was an exciting journey, but it wasn't without its hurdles. Here are some of the significant challenges we faced and how we overcame them:

Getting Output from the zkEngine

Initially, we struggled to retrieve the output from the zkEngine. While we successfully obtained the proof, we were unable to get the actual output of the program, which was crucial for the verification process. This issue was resolved with the help of the NovaNet team, who updated their code to provide the necessary output alongside the proof.

zkEngine Crashing During MCC Process

Another significant challenge was that the zkEngine kept crashing during the Memory Consistency Check (MCC) process with our program. Again, the NovaNet team stepped in to assist us, identifying the issue and updating their engine to handle our specific requirements, ensuring that the process could run smoothly.

Creating User Vectors

We also faced difficulties when it came to creating user vectors, particularly in calculating vectors from complex data such as countries or interests. The challenge was understanding how to represent such contextual data in vector form. We tackled this by simplifying the data, reducing it to coordinates. This not only made distance calculations more straightforward but also simplified the entire process significantly.

Conclusion

These challenges were valuable learning experiences. With the support of the NovaNet team and our own problem-solving efforts, we were able to overcome these obstacles and build a more robust and efficient zkAds platform.