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After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?

phys.org

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Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?

#5

Post by SN76477 »

amelius wrote: post #2

Congress should take action, and install a watchdog that continuously monitors these companies; e.g. by verifying that data placed online cannot be bought through different channels.

That isnt going to happen under the current deregulatory administration.

Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?

#6

Post by opportune »

This article is about (in favor of) censoring the youtube platform to make life easier for advertisers. That doesn't seem very related to the information leaks and level of granular individualized advertising that the Facebook platform provides and which can be used to negative effect by advertisers. To me this is a clumsy, lazy attempt to make lazy platform censorship seem "good" in the way that regulating how Facebook treats data would be good, by coopting a popular topic only tangentially related

Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?

#7

Post by Falell »

It's not next, it's already being targeted. The recent Right To Be Forgotten case touches on a theme I think we'll see again - "we don't like what society does with easy access to certain information, and companies that facilitate access to that information are going to face increased scrutiny".

Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?

#8

Post by maxxxxx »

cdancette wrote: post #4

Next is passing laws to avoid those kind of problems (like GDPR). It's not sufficient to go after each shady company that sells your data.

Exactly. There has to be a framework that everyone has to follow. Imagine we had no laws against theft and you would get into trouble only if you overdid it by some undefined standard

Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?

#9

Post by DanBC »

> Child advocates have also raised alarms about the ease with which smartphone-equipped children are exposed to inappropriate videos and deceptive advertising.

COPPA has unfortunate consequences. My 7 year old child watches youtube. He can't have an account, so he uses my account. Youtube thinks an > 18 year old is watching the videos, and so places ads for gambling and alcohol on the videos he watches.

There's no mechanism to tell Google that:

i) My child is under 18 and so cannot legally buy the products being advertised (and in the UK it's illegal to target alcohol to children)

ii) I campaign against alcohol and gambling adverts, and that's the only reason they think I have an interest in the product. I'm never going to buy these products.

The Youtube Kids product isn't available on my laptop, and he's not interested in many of those videos.

And the fix seems simple enough: allow a toggle for "viewer is under 18".

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