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A new report from digital advocacy group Reset.Tech Australia has revealed the alarming scope of Australian data being shared without consent via real-time bidding auctions to place advertisements in front of users on the fly.
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According to the Any Buyer Accepted report, the real-time bidding system shares the location of an Australian citizen 449 times a day on average.
And it’s not just location data. Real-time bidding (RTB) auctions – a form of advertising process whereby an ad can be targeted to a particular user in real time and advertisers can bid to get their ad placed based on information known about that user – can share movement data, financial interests, sexual preferences, drinking habits, and a lot more.
It’s not just ordinary Australians, either, but potentially every Australian that visits a website hosting ads – and that includes the data of Defence personnel and political leaders, potentially creating a national security risk, according to Reset.Tech Australia.
But for ordinary Australians, the broadcasting of so much personal data is a personal risk, potentially leading to being targeted by scams and ID theft.
“The nature of the RTB process is a dirty little secret that has flown under the public radar for too long,” Alice Dawkins, executive director of Reset.Tech Australia, said in a statement.
Reset.Tech Australia’s report is based on data published by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), in a report titled Australia’s hidden security crisis.
“We hope with this report, which draws heavily on the ICCL’s strong track record on this topic, we can encourage public debate on this pernicious market none of us signed up for.”
John Pane, chair of Electronic Frontiers Australia, said the RTB system “goes beyond personal safeguards”.
“The data trail we leave behind extends to our friends, family, and every website we visit. This creates a web of vulnerability that’s impossible to manage alone,” Pane said.
“To fix this problem we need systemic reform, not individual vigilance.”
One of the most alarming things is that even the advertising industry cannot control the flow of personal data. There is simply “no technical way to limit the way data is used” once it’s been released, according to documentation from the industry itself.
Chandni Gupta, deputy CEO of the Consumer Policy Research Centre, said, “Australians deserve privacy protections that are centred around people, not profit.”
“It is time for the federal government to modernise what it means to be identifiable to cover data points obtained from any source and by any means. It must put the onus on businesses by imposing clear obligations on collecting, sharing and using consumer data that leads to fair and safe outcomes for Australians.”
