#Surveillance#Privacy#DataProtection#AdTech: "Nearly every time we load new content on an app or a Web site, ad-exchange companies—Google being the largest among them—broadcast data about our interests, finances, and vulnerabilities to determine exactly what we’ll see; more than a billion of these transactions take place in the U.S. every hour. Each of us, the data-privacy expert Wolfie Christl told me, has “dozens or even hundreds” of digital identifiers attached to our person; there’s an estimated eighteen-billion-dollar industry for location data alone. In August, 2022, Mozilla reviewed twenty pregnancy and period-tracking apps and found that fifteen of them made a “buffet” of personal data available to third parties, including addresses, I.P. numbers, sexual histories, and medical details. In most cases, the apps used vague language about when and how this data could be shared with law enforcement. (A 2020 foia lawsuit filed by the A.C.L.U. revealed that the Department of Homeland Security had purchased access to location data for millions of people in order to track them without a warrant. ice and C.B.P. subsequently said they would stop using such data.) The scholar Shoshana Zuboff has called this surveillance capitalism, “a new economic order that claims human experience as free raw material for hidden commercial practices of extraction, prediction, and sales.” Through our phones, we are under perpetual surveillance by companies that buy and sell data about what kind of person we are, whom we might vote for, what we might purchase, and what we might be nudged into doing." https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/the-hidden-pregnancy-experiment
#SocialMedia#AdTech#Platforms#BigTech#SiliconValley: "This is the state of the modern internet — ultra-profitable platforms outright abdicating any responsibility toward the customer, offering not a "service" or a "portal," but cramming as many ways to interrupt the user and push them into doing things that make the company money. The greatest lie in tech is that Facebook and Instagram are for "catching up with your friends," because that's no longer what they do. These platforms are now pathways for the nebulous concept of "content discovery," a barely-personalized entertainment network that occasionally drizzles people or things you choose to see on top of sponsored content and groups that a relational database has decided are "good for you."
On some level, it's hard to even suggest we use these apps. The term "use" suggests a level of user control that Meta has spent over a decade destroying, turning Instagram and Facebook into tubes to funnel human beings in front of those who either pay for the privilege of visibility or have found ways to trick the algorithms into showing you their stuff.
It's the direct result of The Rot Economy, a growth-at-all-costs mindset built off the back of immovable monopolies where tech companies profitably punish users as a means of showing the markets eternal growth. In practice, this means twisting platforms from offering a service to driving engagement, which, in Facebook and Instagram's case, meant finding the maximum amount of interruptions that a user will tolerate before they close the app." https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-great-looting-of-the-internet/
#EU#SocialMedia#Meta#Facebook#AdTech#DataProtection#Privacy: "First Statement. The AG Opinion (C-446/21) has just been published. Please refresh this page for any updates. While we are still analysing the details, we hope the initial reaction below captures the key takeaways:
Katharina Raabe-Stuppnig, lawyer representing Mr Schrems: "We are very pleased by the opinion, even though this result was very much expected."
Use of data for advertising must be limited by time, type and source. So far, Meta uses all the data it has ever collected for advertising. For example, Facebook user data can go back as far as 2004. To prevent such practices, the GDPR established the principle of "data minimisation" in Article 5(1)(c) GDPR. So far, Meta has simply ignored this and has not foreseen any deletion periods. The application of the 'data minimisation principle' radically restricts the use of personal data for advertising - even if users have consented to ads. It applies regardless of the legal basis used for the processing, so even a user who consents to personalised advertising cannot have their personal data used indefinitely. While the AG says that the national court would have to decide on the details, factors may be the type of personal data (like age -v- behavioral data), the source (like actively provided data -v- passiv technical tracking) or the context of the collection (like on a social network -v- on third pages)."
#SocialMedia#Facebook#Meta#EU#GDPR#DataProtection#AdTech#Privacy: "Today, the EDPB has issued its first decision on "Pay or Okay" in relation to large online platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, as first reported by Politico. This decision prohibits Meta from using an unlawful consent request processing personal data. It seems that by now, Meta has run out of options to continue using people's data for advertising in the EU without a consent mechanism that actually complies with the law." https://noyb.eu/en/statement-edpb-pay-or-okay-opinion
#Roku#SmartTV#AdTech#Streaming: "Last week, Janko Roettgers, a technology and entertainment reporter, uncovered a dystopian patent filed last August by Roku, the television- and streaming-device manufacturer whose platform is used by tens of millions of people worldwide. The filing details plans for an “HDMI customized ad insertion,” which would allow TVs made by Roku to monitor video signals through the HDMI port—where users might connect a game console, a Blu-ray player, a cable box, or even another streaming device—and then inject targeted advertisements when content is paused. This would be a drastic extension of Roku’s surveillance potential: The company currently has no ability to see what users might be doing when they switch away from its proprietary streaming platform. This is apparently a problem, in that Roku is missing monetization opportunities!
Although the patent may never come to fruition (a spokesperson for Roku told me that the company had no plans to put HDMI ad insertion into any products at this time), it speaks to a dispiriting recent trend in consumer hardware. Internet-connected products can transform after the point of purchase in ways that can feel intrusive or even hostile to users. Another example from Roku: Just last month, the company presented users with an update to its terms of service, asking them to enter a pre-arbitration process that would make it harder to sue the company. On one hand, this isn’t so unusual—apps frequently force users to accept terms-of-service updates before proceeding. But on the other, it feels galling to be locked out of using your television altogether over a legal agreement: “Until I press ‘Agree’ my tv is essentially being held hostage and rendered useless,” one Roku customer posted on Reddit. “I can’t even change the HDMI input.”" https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/04/roku-tv-ads-patent/678041/
Surveillance/targeted advertising is essentially a digital poltergeist - invisible, useless, destructive, unpredictable and inexplicable.
Is there something that a surveillance advertising is that a poltergeist is not?
#AdTech#Privacy#Cookies#AdTargeting#DataProtection: "In a little-noticed change at the end of last year, thousands of websites started being more transparent about how many companies your data is being shared with. In November, those infuriating cookie pop-ups—which ask your permission to collect and share data—began sharing how many advertising “partners” each website is working with, giving a further glimpse of the sprawling advertising ecosystem. For many sites, it’s not pretty.
A WIRED analysis of the top 10,000 most popular websites shows that dozens of sites say they are sharing data with more than 1,000 companies, while thousands of other websites are sharing data with hundreds of firms. Quiz and puzzle website JetPunk tops the pile, listing 1,809 “partners” that may collect personal information, including “browsing behavior or unique IDs.”" https://www.wired.com/story/cookie-pop-up-ad-tech-partner-top-websites/
#SocialMedia#Discord#AdTech#Ads#Advertising: "Discord had long been strongly opposed to ads, but starting this week, it's giving video game makers the ability to advertise to its users. The introduction of so-called Sponsored Quests marks a notable change from the startup's previous business model, but, at least for now, it seems much less intrusive than the ads shoved into other social media platforms, especially since Discord users can choose not to engage with them.
Discord first announced Sponsored Quests on March 7, with Peter Sellis, Discord's SVP of product, writing in a blog post that users would start seeing them in the "coming weeks." Sponsored Quests offer PC gamers in-game rewards for getting friends to watch a stream of them playing through Discord. Discord senior product communications manager Swaleha Carlson confirmed to Ars Technica that Sponsored Quests launch this week." https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/04/discord-starts-down-the-dangerous-road-of-ads-this-week/
🚫 I'll never understand online advertising tbh, burning money just to make it rain as ashes.
「 Speedtest.net, online medical publisher WebMD, and media outlets Reuters, ESPN, and BuzzFeed all state they can share data with 809 companies. (WIRED, for context, lists 164 partners.) These hundreds of advertising partners include dozens of firms most people have likely never heard of 」
#EU#CJEU#GDPR#DataProtection#BigTech#AdTech#TargetedAds#OnlineTracking: "In a landmark decision on 7 March 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued a groundbreaking judgment against online targeted ads prohibited by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This ruling has far-reaching implications for major platforms, including giants like Google and TikTok, that rely on the online personalised advertising industry as part of their business model. The Court recognised that invasive tracking and profiling cannot be sanctioned through ‘consent’ pop-ups, responding to a complaint that focused on the mechanisms facilitating the covert profiling and monitoring of the private activities of a majority of individuals across the digital realm. The court’s decision emphasised the need for stricter controls on the online tracking and advertising industry." https://edri.org/our-work/europes-highest-court-delivers-landmark-judgment-against-iab-europe-in-gdpr-consent-spam-pop-ups-case/
It's crazy that our governments are simultaneously leaving us to fend for ourselves against these predatory corporations, while steadily losing their ability to intervene in the future by consistently ceding ground to entities that believe they can monetize our very existence while answering to no one.
The European Court of Justice @Curia made my day today 🎉
"#Amazon lost a legal bid to delay obeying part of the European Union’s new content moderation law with the European Union’s top court saying its argument was “irrelevant” and “lacking in seriousness.”
it's so beneficial that it should not stop to comply with the law;
and compliance with the law should be done in the most obnoxious way possible.
Because even if you decide on tracking, cookies banners are still not required!
It's the worse way possible to meet the legal requirements for the users.
There has been for years a proposal for a standard, designed in 2009 (!), still available in all the popular web browsers (except safari) that can make for a seamless experience: the DNT header." https://www.bitecode.dev/p/there-is-no-eu-cookie-banner-law
#Surveillance#Privacy#LiveRamp#AdTech: "LiveRamp is aware that its system raises important ethical questions about privacy and control. On its Web site, it states that “Data Ethics Isn’t Something We Do. It’s Part of Who We Are.” It offers a number of privacy tools, including the ability to opt out of the LiveRamp system. The Opt Out page includes the following comment: “if you opt out… the ads you see will generally not be tied to any multi-site behavioral data, and are more likely to be “contextual” based simply on the website you are viewing.”
In other words, even without the huge and complex RampID system, sites would still be able to sell ads and make money. Moreover, visitors to those sites would see useful ads based on what they are viewing, not on huge databases that track everything they do online, and that try to second-guess what people’s deepest desires might be. Seven years after we first reported on the scale of surveillance advertising, isn’t it time to move on to a better system based on contextual ads?" https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/global-identity-system-tracks-you/
#EU#DataProtection#AdTech#Meta#Facebook#Privacy: "In a joint effort, several EDRi members have penned an open letter urging the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) to take a decisive stance against the controversial “Pay or Consent” models.
The letter emphasises the critical role the EDPB’s forthcoming opinion will play in safeguarding the right to privacy and data protection at the European Union (EU) level and on a global scale.
The EDPB’s opinion has the potential to prevent the normalisation of such “Pay or Consent” models, and the business model attached to it. The missive reinforces the message previously conveyed by some EDRi members to the Board, also cautioning against the dangers of “Pay or Okay.”
📯 Join the discussion on Monday about the future of privacy online.
It could not be more timely, considering the FTCs decision on the 24th of February against Avast, and the European Court of Justice’s decision on cookie banners yesterday, the Grindr court case next week and much more happening in the field of data protection, privacy, online marketing, AI and more.
More information and possibilities to sign up below.
This week we lodged complaints with the UK and French regulators about LiveRamp's new adtech system.
A report by @wchr and Alan Toner commissioned by ORG shows that LiveRamp has developed privacy-invasive profiling that combines online and offline identifiers.
Internet users are exposed to more privacy-invasive profiling, that can link their browsing habits to their real identity and even their home address.
Pamiętam, że gdy jakiś czas temu bodaj Axel Springer próbował coś w tym temacie zadziałać, zniknął z wyszukiwarki i podkulił ogon.
Może teraz? Gigant rządzi i dzieli, kierując się jedynie maksymalizacją zysków, z ogromną szkodą wyrządzaną internetowi (np. SEOSpam).
"Teraz 33 europejskie organizacje medialne postanowiły skonsolidować swoje roszczenia odszkodowawcze wobec jednej z największych globalnych korporacji, która przez wiele lat wykorzystywała swoją dominującą pozycję na rynku. Koalicja zdecydowała się złożyć pozew przeciwko Google w Holandii, kluczowej jurysdykcji dla roszczeń o odszkodowania antymonopolowe w Europie. Takie scentralizowane podejście eliminuje konieczność składania wielu pozwów w różnych krajach europejskich, co wiąże się z ryzykiem niespójności i spirali kosztów."
#Media#News#Journalism#SEO#AdTech#Search#SearchEngines: "[F]ew network effects have damaged the news more than Search Engine Optimization, where the allure of traffic from search engines like Google has led publishers to create content not with the goal of serving their audience, but attracting the spurious traffic that one might get from those searching "when does the Super Bowl start."
The result is a media industry in crisis. Desperate executives and disconnected editors twist their reporters' coverage to please Google's algorithms as a means of improving traffic to please advertisers' algorithms, creating content that looks and sounds the same as other outlets, which in turn leads to layoffs as profits fail to increase, which in turn normalizes and weakens the content created by the outlet. This is largely a result of those in power not actually consuming or producing any of the product that makes the outlet money, only understanding the business as a series of symbols that at some point create revenue, ostensibly from the written word and video.
When you make decisions for a website or company that produces words that it sells for money based not on the writing, but on how to twist that writing to make it "more profitable," the conclusion is always inevitable — the creation of identical-looking slop that people only read by accident, and the slow asphyxiation of journalism and culture.
It almost always leads to overstaffing and mismanagement, too. Any form of creative media requires an understanding that building an audience takes time and money, and that one cannot just spend a bunch of money to make that happen. But these craven idiots are as rotten as the rest of the economy (...) The media is being run by people that do not see value in people or the things that they create, but the metrics that come as a result."