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#datacollection

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"The Austrian Federal Administrative Court on Monday said that newspaper Der Standard violated the EU’s data protection rules when introducing a "pay or OK” model on its website, confirming an earlier decision by Austria’s Data Protection Authority (DSB).

This "pay or OK" approach – introduced on the newspaper’s website when the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force in 2018 – gives users a choice between paying a monthly €9,90 fee to access the website without having their data tracked, or giving consent to data collection and processing for targeted advertising.

The Austrian privacy watchdog already said in its decision in 2023, that the approach of one of Austria's most-read newspapers was unlawful, as it only allowed a global consent or rejection. The EU's privacy law requires the option to consent to specific types of processing.

Der Standard appealed this decision and argued that such a "granular" consent is not doable in a "pay or OK" system, as it required tracking and statistics to sell its advertisement in the non-paid version."

euronews.com/next/2025/08/19/a

Austrian newspaper’s pay or consent model violates EU privacy rules: court
euronews · Austrian newspaper’s consent model violates EU privacy rules: courtThe case will likely be referred to the EU’s highest court.

1) #Trump nominee to run the #BLS, E.J. Antoni, said yesterday that he wants monthly #jobs reports suspended, claiming there were needed corrections. Background: Trump #fired the head of BLS after the agency published a #jobs report showing poor #job growth for a three-month stretch. #censorship. Cuts to #DataCollection May Erode Reliability of #Economic #Statistics. BLS reducing/ending collection of #data that is used to calculate #ConsumerPriceIndex.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/busines

The New York Times · Cuts to Data Collection May Erode Reliability of Economic StatisticsBy Ben Casselman

If you're an American, you need to order your #LexisNexis #report. It's free. It's not a credit report (although there are some aspects of that to it). It's a dossier on you and your life, brought to you by the largest data broker in the #UnitedStates. #PleaseBoost #privacy #security #DataPrivacy #DataCollection #PersonalInformation

https://consumer.risk.lexisnexis.com/request

consumer.risk.lexisnexis.comOrder Your Report Online - LexisNexis Risk Solutions Consumer Disclosure

#mte #meettheexperts #webtracking #datacollection
New #video on #YouTube:Meet our Experts Dr. Joachim Piepenburg and Dr. Frank Mangold who showcase research that linked surveys and #webtracking, present the data collection infrastructure and introduce how the academic community can participate in the data collections and use the collected data.

youtu.be/5X1VsNICjls

My post from yesterday (mastodon.bsd.cafe/@stefano/113) generated some very interesting comments. It seems that this behavior is confirmed and not just on Samsung devices, but also on devices from other manufacturers.
I knew that many Chinese manufacturers, in order to keep prices low, made deals with third-party companies to pre-install apps and games, but I didn’t think this would happen on high-end, expensive phones, and not only installing apps but also underlying services.

In my opinion, this behavior is unacceptable, and no, having to accept a document hundreds of pages long (otherwise it becomes impossible to use the device you bought and paid for) is not an excuse.

And it's not because the services are from Meta - they could be from anyone. I don't want third-party services installed on a device I buy, period. I can accept (though, I’m saying it lightly - personally, I don’t want any useless background services) manufacturer services, for the purpose of making the device (more) usable, but I certainly don't want shady processes that collect (and, I assume, send) personal data to other companies.

I’m more and more glad I installed #GrapheneOS on my Pixel.

BSD.cafe Mastodon PortalStefano Marinelli (@stefano@bsd.cafe)This morning a customer told me that the new Samsung Galaxy S25 (and probably also the previous ones – but I hadn't noticed this on my S24) run, by default, a background service called "Meta Services," which belongs to Meta. And it runs even if you don't have any Meta apps, as it's the result of an agreement between the two companies. I don't have any information about this – does anyone know more? #Samsung #Android #Privacy