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#rtb

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Scientific study finds that #adtech IS using browser #fingerprinting to track people and so it no longer matters so much how good you are at blocking #cookies and #trackers 😒

engineering.tamu.edu/news/2025

They call on browser makers to do more. @jon is your team putting effort into this area?

@johnnyryan I suggest this area is added to your investigations since it is linked to the #RTB system and #databrokers 🙏

#browserfingerprinting #surveillancecapitalism
#privacy

engineering.tamu.eduWebsites Are Tracking You Via Browser FingerprintingNew research provides first evidence of the use of browser fingerprints for online tracking.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (#ICCL) secures permission to take Ireland’s first ever class action
Pioneering lawsuit against #Microsoft follows ICCL undercover investigation of data brokers that trade millions of people’s sensitive personal data

The online advertising's Real-Time Bidding (#RTB) is the biggest data breach ever recorded.

Details:
iccl.ie/rtb/

Lawsuit:
iccl.ie/digital-data/iccl-secu

Animation credit: ICCL

In a historic win for data protection and privacy, the High Court of Ireland has this afternoon granted ICCL permission to take Ireland’s first ever class action. The lawsuit targets Microsoft’s vast online advertising business.

The litigation is anticipated to affect Microsoft’s operations across Europe, because Ireland is the venue of Microsoft’s EU headquarters.

Dr Johnny Ryan, Director of ICCL’s Enforce unit, is leading the case. Speaking after the hearing, he said:

“The significance of today's decision extends beyond just Microsoft. Ireland is also the HQ venue for Google, Meta, TikTok, X and Apple. Today, nine years and one day after the GDPR was first introduced, we are finally opening up a way to enforce it against big tech on behalf of everyone. Regrettably, the Ireland’s Data Protection Commission has paralysed enforcement of EU data law. But that need no longer be the case.”

The litigation follows research by ICCL Enforce that uncovered how people’s intimate relationships, finances, and other secrets, are broadcast by Microsoft into the Real-Time Bidding (RTB) advertising system. Microsoft’s RTB system operates behind the scenes on websites and apps to match advertising to specific people.

ICCL argues this system is exposing users to malicious profiling and discrimination. It also argues that the system is undermining European security.

ICCL is taking the legal action on behalf of all affected people in Ireland under the new EU Collective Redress Directive. The organisation hopes to force Microsoft to bring its systems into compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Posing as a data buyer, ICCL Enforce obtained thousands of RTB data “segments” about Irish people. These include information such as whether a person gambles, their finances and debt, and even such sensitive information as whether the person works in a sensitive national security role.

iccl.ie/digital-data/iccl-secu

Irish Council for Civil Liberties · ICCL secures permission to take Ireland’s first ever class actionClass action will target “Real-Time Bidding” (RTB) data breach in Microsoft’s advertising system, and is anticipated to affect Microsoft’s operations across the EU
#ICCL#privacy#adtech

"Google, Microsoft, Amazon, X, and the entire tracking-based advertising industry rely on the “Transparency & Consent Framework” (TCF) to obtain “consent” for data processing. This evening the Belgian Court of Appeal ruled that the TCF is illegal. The TCF is live on 80% of the Internet.[1]

Today’s decision arises from enforcement by the Belgian Data Protection Authority, prompted by complainants coordinated by Dr Johnny Ryan, Director of Enforce at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties. The group of complainants are: Dr Johnny Ryan of Enforce, Katarzyna Szymielewicz of the Panoptykon Foundation, Dr Jef Ausloos, Dr Pierre Dewitte, Stichting Bits of Freedom, and Ligue des Droits Humains.

Dr Johnny Ryan said "Today's court's decision shows that the consent system used by Google, Amazon, X, Microsoft, deceives hundreds of millions of Europeans. The tech industry has sought to hide its vast data breach behind sham consent popups. Tech companies turned the GDPR into a daily nuisance rather than a shield for people."

This Belgian enforcement arises from a chain of complaints and litigation across Europe initiated by Dr Ryan in 2018 against Real-Time Bidding (RTB)."

iccl.ie/digital-data/eu-ruling

Irish Council for Civil Liberties · EU ruling: tracking-based advertising by Google, Microsoft, Amazon, X, across Europe has no legal basisEU data protection authorities find that the consent popups that plagued Europeans for years are illegal. All data collected through them must be deleted. This decision impacts Google’s, Amazon’s and Microsoft’s online advertising businesses.
#EU#Belgium#AdTech

"The tech industry has sought to hide its vast data breach behind sham [#GDPR] consent popups."

"Real-Time Bidding (RTB), [is] the vast advertising auction system that operates behind the scenes on websites and apps. #RTB tracks what Internet users look at and where they go in the real world. It then continuously broadcasts this data to a host of companies, enabling them to keep dossiers on every Internet user.

[I]t is impossible to know what then happens to the data."

iccl.ie/digital-data/eu-ruling

Irish Council for Civil Liberties · EU ruling: tracking-based advertising by Google, Microsoft, Amazon, X, across Europe has no legal basisEU data protection authorities find that the consent popups that plagued Europeans for years are illegal. All data collected through them must be deleted. This decision impacts Google’s, Amazon’s and Microsoft’s online advertising businesses.
Continued thread

argues they cannot rely on contextual ads "as long as advertisers don't pay the same money for them as they do for personalised ads."

Really, this is why banning is so powerful a solution because it would take the harmful business model off the market.

Keep at 'em @noybeu! These apps need to be controlled. The trade in personal #metadata to #databrokers is outrageous. The #RTB system should be regulated and #behaviouraladvertising banned.

noyb.eu/en/wetteronline-sees-d

"Ingo Dachwitz, journalist at netzpolitik.org: "Our Databroker Files research shows that the trading of our data is COMPLETELY OUT OF CONTROL. No one can keep track where the data that smartphone apps supposedly collect for advertising ends up."

noyb.euWetterOnline sees "disproportionate effort" in complying with the GDPRWetterOnline shares the personal data of its users with more than 800 third-party companies for advertising purposes

We know about the #Trump campaign using #CambridgeAnalytica to swing the 2016 election, and Russia getting involved, but gun associations? That's new to me.

propublica.org/article/guns-lo

3rd party vested interests providing citizen private data to dodgy firms to swing elections is a pretty dark use of #microtargeting. On a par (nearly) with what the #UniversityOfPhoenix was caught doing 🤮

ProPublicaGun Lobbyists and Cambridge Analytica Weaponized Gun Owners’ Private Details for Political Gain
More from ProPublica

From DeepSeek to Stargate: How dramatic AI developments will re-shape the copyright landscape

Walled Culture started covering generative AI relatively early, back in October 2022. That’s just two years ago, and yet the technological progress since then has been extraordinary, whatever you think about the other issues gen AI raises. The latest breakthrough is particularly interesting because it has come from China. The site Live Science explains why the new reasoning model […]

#adtech #bubble #chatgpt #china #deepseek #epc #eu #euCopyright #genai #generativeAi #google #investment #licensing #meta #openSource #openai #privacy #publishers #realTimeBidding #rtb #stargate #surveillance #tax #uk

walledculture.org/how-dramatic

If #trump backtracks on the #tiktok ban, it will be because "In December Trump said he had a "warm spot" for the app as it helped him with young voters in the 2024 election."

bbc.com/news/articles/clyeer3q

It is sad that morons keep using these kind of apps - the ones with #algorithms that allow #microtargeting of ads. And guess what: aggressive misinformation campaigns to win elections also count as ads!

The root cause is #surveillancecapitalism and the #bidsteam behavioural data in the #RTB system

www.bbc.comTikTok says it will 'go dark' if US government does not interveneThe Supreme Court earlier upheld a law that would ban the video app in the US unless its Chinese parent-company sells it.
Replied in thread

@EUCommission this is great. But is the 'options to opt out of seeing recommendations based on profiling' really enforced?

If so that would really sort the problem out! #microtargeting via #algorithms is how reality gets distorted, and differently for each person.

Really you should ban surveillance (behavioural) advertising - that is a root cause one level deeper. The #RTB system 'bidsteam' data is the fuel for the cancer of the last 25 years: #surveillancecapitalism from #bigtech