A cross-party group in the U.S. Senate sent a letter to major online ad trading platforms, including Google and Twitter, asking whether they sell user data to foreign entities. The foreign entities may be used for blackmail or other malicious purposes.
In an instant bidding mechanism that determines which personalized ads users see when a web page loads, hundreds of companies receive personal information about users, including search history, IP address, age and gender.
According to Oregon Democratic U.S. Senator Ron Wyden’s office, letters regarding the sale of user information collected in the instant bidding process were also sent to AT&T, Index Exchange, Magnite, OpenX, PubMatic, and Verizon.
The letter stated, “Few Americans are aware that some participating auctioneers are drawing on and storing ‘bid stream’ data to compile detailed personal data.”
“This information would be a gold mine for foreign intelligence agencies, which could use it to inform and strengthen cyber attacks, blackmail and influence campaigns.”
The letter reads, “This information is being sold openly to anyone with a credit card, including hedge funds, political campaigns, and even governments.”
According to the press release, questions asked of the companies in the letter include what information is being collected from people in the process of providing advertising bids and what foreign companies are buying that information from them.
The companies have until May 4 to answer.
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