Online protection of our private data is always a hot topic in today's world that revolves around the internet. Big tech companies often face the brunt of regulators and such due to the amount of data they collect and manage. In the latest development related to this, a Senior Fellow at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), Dr. Johnny Ryan, has decided to file a lawsuit against the IAB Tech Lab. The lawsuit is being filed in a Hamburg District Court against what the ICCL believes is the "world's biggest data breach".
IAB Tech Lab is a consortium comprising of some of the biggest tech firms, like Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc., and it's responsible for providing the technical standards based on which the online digital ad space operates.
In the digital ads marketplace, ads are placed on various websites using a method called Real-time bidding (RTB). RTB is the process in which digital advertising inventory is bought and sold in real-time. In its lawsuit, the ICCL has pointed out that the use of RTB greatly violates the user privacy of millions since so much personal data is being shared across vast networks.
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Here's what Dr. Johnny Ryan has said about the matter:
By challenging the online advertising industry's standards, our lawsuit takes aim at Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, Verizon, AT&T and the entire online advertising & surveillance industry. This industry tracks us, and builds hidden dossiers about our most intimate secrets. Starting today, we mean to change that.
A list of the biggest nine names that broadcast the highest amount of RTBs has been provided by ICCL. It contains the names of some usual suspects.
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For more details about the matter, you can visit ICCL's official webpage.
This isn't the first time a lawsuit related to RTB has been filed as Google was recently slapped with a €220 million (~$268 million) fine by a French investigation body that the company agreed to settle with.
Source and images: ICCL
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