A large-scale independent study of pre-installed Android apps has cast a critical spotlight on the privacy and security risks that preloaded software poses to users of the Google developed mobile platform. The researchers behind the paper, which has been published in preliminary form ahead of a future presentation at the IEEE Symposium on Security and […]
View More Android users’ security and privacy at risk from shadowy ecosystem of pre-installed software, study warnsCategory: Adtech
EU gov’t and public health sites lousy with adtech, study finds
A study of tracking cookies running on government and public sector health websites in the European Union has found commercial adtech to be operating pervasively even in what should be core not-for-profit corners of the Internet. The researchers used searches including queries related to HIV, mental health, pregnancy, alcoholism and cancer to examine how frequently […]
View More EU gov’t and public health sites lousy with adtech, study findsUK asks competition watchdog to put adtech market review top of its to-do list
The UK government has written to the country’s competition authority to ask the watchdog to respond to concerns about the lack of transparency in the digital advertising market and carry out a formal market study “as soon as possible”. In a letter to the Competition and Markets Authority, chancellor Philip Hammond writes that the online […]
View More UK asks competition watchdog to put adtech market review top of its to-do listPrivacy complaints received by tech giants’ favorite EU watchdog up more than 2x since GDPR
A report by the lead data watchdog for a large number of tech giants operating in Europe shows a significant increase in privacy complaints and data breach notifications since the region’s updated privacy framework came into force last May. The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC)’s annual report, published today, covers the period May 25, aka […]
View More Privacy complaints received by tech giants’ favorite EU watchdog up more than 2x since GDPRThe facts about Facebook
This is a critical reading of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s article in the WSJ on Thursday, also entitled The Facts About Facebook. Yes Mark, you’re right; Facebook turns 15 next month. What a long time you’ve been in the social media business! We’re curious as to whether you’ve also been keeping count of how many times […]
View More The facts about FacebookHow a small French privacy ruling could remake adtech for good
A ruling in late October against a little known French adtech firm that popped up on the national data watchdog’s website earlier this month, is causing ripples of excitement to run through privacy watchers in Europe who believe it signals the beginning of the end for creepy online ads. The excitement is palpable. Impressively so, […]
View More How a small French privacy ruling could remake adtech for goodPro-privacy search engine DuckDuckGo hits 30M daily searches, up 50% in a year
Some nice momentum for privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo which has just announced it’s hit 30 million daily searches a year after reaching 20M — a year-on-year increase of 50%. Hitting the first 10M daily searches took the search engine a full seven years, and then it was another two to get to 20M. So as […]
View More Pro-privacy search engine DuckDuckGo hits 30M daily searches, up 50% in a yearGDPR has cut ad trackers in Europe but helped Google, study suggests
An analysis of the impact of Europe’s new data protection framework, GDPR, on the adtech industry suggests the regulation has reduced the numbers of ad trackers that websites are hooking into EU visitors. But it also implies that Google may have slightly increased its marketshare in the region — indicating the adtech giant could be winning […]
View More GDPR has cut ad trackers in Europe but helped Google, study suggestsApple’s Tim Cook is sending a privacy bat-signal to US lawmakers
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has today been announced as the keynote speaker at a European data protection conference taking place in Brussels later this month — at a time when US lawmakers are asking tech giants outright if they’ll support “EU-like” privacy rules to shield US consumers from platform power. For a week this month Europe’s data […]
View More Apple’s Tim Cook is sending a privacy bat-signal to US lawmakersCluep, a Canadian startup that raised just $500k, acquired for $40M
Everyone loves a tale of a bootstrapped startup founder’s journey to an eight-figure exit. The team at Toronto-based Cluep have a good one. The founders of the adtech startup raised less than $500,000 from angel investors before selling their company to Impact Group for $40 million ($53 milllion CAD) this week. Founded in 2012, Karan Walia, Sobi Walia […]
View More Cluep, a Canadian startup that raised just $500k, acquired for $40MEuropean, UK and US pols summon Zuck as FTC eyes probe of Facebook over data violations
The fallout from the story concerning Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, the misuse of personal data and how much Facebook knew about all this, has quickly made its way into the halls of government — and with it Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg is getting a lot of invitations in his inbox. This afternoon, Antonio Tajani, the president […]
View More European, UK and US pols summon Zuck as FTC eyes probe of Facebook over data violationsFacebook’s tracking of non-users ruled illegal again
Another blow for Facebook in Europe: Judges in Belgium have once again ruled the company broke privacy laws by deploying technology such as cookies and social plug-ins to track Internet users across the web. Read More