Archivio di tutti i clip:
clips.quintarelli.it
(Notebook di Evernote).
Mozilla Co-Founder’s Brave Files Adtech Complaint Against GoogleMozilla Co-Founder’s Brave Files Adtech Complaint Against Google
By Reuters
Sept. 12, 2018
COLOGNE, Germany — Brave, a privacy-focused web browser set up by Silicon Valley engineering guru Brendan Eich, filed privacy complaints in Britain and Ireland that could become a test case against search company Google and other digital advertising firms.
The petitioners say they want to trigger an article in the new European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requiring an EU-wide investigation, making it a test case for a new European Data Protection Board created to give the privacy regime more teeth.
The GDPR seeks to ensure that individuals have greater control over the data that companies hold about them. Brave and the co-plaintiffs say Google and others are playing fast and loose with people’s data.
“There is a massive and systematic data breach at the heart of the behavioral advertising industry. Despite the two-year lead-in period before the GDPR, adtech companies have failed to comply,” Brave’s chief policy officer Johnny Ryan told Reuters.
The complaint argues that when a person visits a website, intimate personal data that describe them and what they are doing online is broadcast to tens or hundreds of companies without their knowledge in order to auction and place ads.
This, it says in the complaints filed on Wednesday, violates the GDPR’s requirement for personal data to be processed in a way that ensures they are properly secured, including against unauthorized or unlawful processing and against accidental loss.
Google says it is has already implemented strong privacy protections in consultation with European regulators and is committed to complying with the GDPR.
Brave operates as a private browser and ad blocker, preventing the use of trackers on web pages to harvest data about people’s online behavior – giving it detailed insight into the inner workings of the online ad industry.
Brave brave.com‘s co-founder Eich is best known as the creator of the Javascript web programming language and was also a co-founder of Mozilla, the open-source web browser.
The new data privacy law could also have a huge impact on the small army of tech firms that comes between giants like Google and its users to harvest and crunch data from websites to form very specific consumer profiles.
HEAVY FINES
Were the regulator to find in favor of the plaintiffs, that could undermine the foundations of the data-driven model on with the online ad industry – forecast by research firm eMarketer to grow to $273 billion this year – depends.
The GDPR is the first data privacy regime that foresees heavy fines for serious violations – of up to 4 percent of a company’s global turnover.
The filing, on behalf of Ryan, Jim Killock of the Open Rights Group, a non-profit organization, and academic Michael Veale of University College London, coincided with the opening of a major digital marketing fair in Cologne, Germany.
A copy of the complaint seen by Reuters argues that Google and the adtech industry commit “wide-scale and systematic breaches of the data protection regime” through the way they place personalized online ads.
This happens through a process called “real-time bidding” and does so through two main channels. One, called OpenRTB, is used by most players in the industry, while a second, called Authorised Buyers, is run by Google.
The complaint argues that these gather and broadcast more personal data than could be justified for advertising purposes; that this data is then subject to further unauthorized processing; and that it can include sensitive information such as sexuality, ethnicity or political opinions.
Interested in All Things Tech?
The Bits newsletter will keep you updated on the latest from Silicon Valley and the technology industry.
Ravi Naik, a partner at ITN Solicitors in London who is representing the plaintiffs, said this case addressed a long-standing data-protection concern that “is likely to have far reaching and dramatic consequences, which may change our fundamental relationship with the Internet”.
(Reporting by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Georgina Prodhan and David Evans)
Trending
Image by Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Paul Manafort Agrees to Cooperate With Special Counsel; Pleads Guilty to Reduced Charges
Sept. 14
Bullit Marquez/Associated Press
Typhoon Mangkhut: First Deaths Reported as Storm Churns Through Philippines
10h ago
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Jeff Montgomery/Harding University, via Associated Press
A Dallas Police Officer Shot Her Neighbor, and a City Is Full of Questions
8h ago
Trending on NYTimes
Review our cookie policy
What do we use cookies for?We use cookies and similar technologies to recognize your repeat visits and preferences, as well as to measure the effectiveness of campaigns and analyze traffic. To learn more about cookies, including how to disable them, view our Cookie Policy. By clicking “I Accept” or “X” on this banner, or using our site, you consent to the use of cookies unless you have disabled them.
