This week's review of ad fraud and privacy in the digital advertising space.
Trisha Hendricks of 12News, the NBC-affiliate in Phoenix, Arizona, interviewed Pixalate CEO Jalal Nasir about its research showing that apps in the Google Play and Apple App stores are tracking children. Two-thirds of child-directed apps in the Apple store send data to advertisers. In the Google Play store, that percentage rises to 79%. That information could lose location, internet address and a code that could identify the child’s device. Apps get around COPPA by offering child-friendly content without labeling the app as child-directed.
NPR’s Fresh Air interviewed Geoff Fowler of the Washington Post about his recent article claiming that “smartphones and apps are harvesting our personal data.” Fowler mentions working with Pixalate and Pixalate’s attempts to classify child-directed apps in the Apple App and Google Play stores. He continues saying that the age ratings for apps given in the app stores have nothing to do with whether or not those apps are collecting children’s personal information.
ExchangeWire published a Q&A with Pixalate CEO Jalal Nasir regarding the current state of ad fraud in the major CTV and mobile markets. Nasir spoke about the rapid growth of IPv6 conversion due to the major adoption worldwide of 5G-enabled devices, what threats “abandoned apps” pose to users, what the trust level for CTV is in the wake of several large-scale scams and what is currently being done in the marketplace to mitigate the instance of ad fraud.
Some privacy advocates are saying that in the most recent draft privacy framework legislation, the American Data Privacy and Protection Acts, Congress has not done enough to protect children’s privacy. In the Washington Post’s Technology 202 roundup points out some loopholes for big tech companies in the current bill. There is also concern with the “actual knowledge” clause, with advocates saying that many foreign companies could feign ignorance of their data collection practices.
A group of democrats is looking to ban data brokers from being able to sell individual’s health and location data, amidst fears that this data could be used to prosecute those seeking abortion care if Roe v. Wade is struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court next month, according to Business Insider. Thirteen states already have “trigger laws” in place to swiftly outlaw abortion if Roe falls. In an investigation, Vice News and The Markup were easily able to buy phone location data for 600 abortion clinics nationwide.
