How Online Behavioral Ads Fuel Mass Surveillance
by Michael Dean Thompson
It is no secret that digital advertising companies profit handsomely by accessing and exploiting the private information of consumers. What may be surprising, however, is the increasing efficiency with which these companies collect, distribute, and monetize personal data. This information feeds the American surveillance state, making even Google’s once-controversial location database seem outdated by comparison.
The Mechanics of Real-Time Bidding
When a user is about to be shown an advertisement, a lightning-fast auction takes place. Algorithms decide whether to bid and how much to pay for the opportunity to display their ad. To make these split-second decisions, bidders are provided with a wealth of user data, including the user’s advertising ID, app or website activity, location, IP address, device information, interests, and demographic details. The speed of these auctions incentivizes advertising clients to hoard consumer data—even from instances where they chose not to bid.
Unlike the centralized data storage models of the past, this system is decentralized and far harder to regulate. Anyone can subscribe to the bidstream, the real-time data feed generated during these auctions, creating opportunities for entities more interested in collecting consumer data than in buying ads. Subscribers can integrate this data with information from other brokers and even resell it, despite some real-time bidding (RTB) vendors explicitly prohibiting such practices. Thousands of businesses subscribe to the hundreds of billions of daily bid requests, primarily to aggregate and sell the data.
Regulatory Action and Ethical Concerns
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) recently took action against Mobilewalla, a company accused of sourcing 60% of its consumer data through RTB without participating in the auctions. The FTC determined that Mobilewalla’s practices violated the FTC Act’s prohibition of unfair conduct. The case highlights a troubling reality: companies need only participate in a few bids to continue harvesting data. Mobilewalla used the bidstream to compile lists of healthcare workers’ home addresses for employment recruiters and to track individuals attending Black Lives Matter protests. Their customers could target specific groups, such as Hispanic churchgoers, pregnant women, and LGBTQ+ individuals.
With enough data points, it becomes relatively easy to link an advertising ID to a specific individual. A 2014 FTC report revealed that data brokers collect far more than basic personal information. They gather data on cohabiting children and elderly parents, pets, political affiliations, household income, and more. For example, Near Intelligence sold information on over a million devices to the Department of Defense, while Venntel, a subsidiary of Gravy Analytics, provided bidstream-derived data to the FBI, ICE, CBP, and other government agencies.
Government Use and Global Implications
Government agencies are increasingly turning to bidstream data as a discreet means of gathering information that might otherwise require a warrant under the Fourth Amendment. Tools like RayOne and Patterns leverage bidstream data to identify and track individuals worldwide. Meanwhile, foreign governments, including those of Russia and China, have also subscribed to the same data streams, likely compiling their own lists and developing similar tracking tools.
Source: eff.org
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