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Surveillance on UK council websites [pdf]

brave.com

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Re: Surveillance on UK council websites [pdf]

#91

UK has the biggest number of cameras per m^2 in world. Sadly, it's common pattern. Cool business idea: Mr Robot style hoodie with tracking protection.

Well someone has been fined for disorderly behaviour for covering their face.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7036141/Police-fine...

Re: Surveillance on UK council websites [pdf]

#92

"This report should spur Elizabeth Denham, the UK Information Commissioner, to finally enforce the GDPR." What is the status of GDPR in the UK now that Brexit has occurred? Is the UK still beholden to the terms of the law, or does the UK have a parallel law that applies now that they're no longer part of the EU?

GDPR is currently entirely valid and enforced until December 2020. After that point it is believed that an entirely compatible law will continue to exist - currently the understanding is that the UK will be considered to have adequate equivalency therefore making it a safe third party country to transmit data for processing. No hard guarantees until the end of the year though.

Re: Surveillance on UK council websites [pdf]

#93
post #48

I don't want to be overly critical here but If we rush to call this 'widespread surveillance' (intended or not) I worry that we'll quickly start losing words/expressions to describe the stuff that snowden unveiled or whethever the government does in China...

The source for the story clearly has a specific political bias regarding its interpretation of privacy. That political bias doesn't impinge on the facts of the report though (merely that Brave believes it's worth surfacing loudly).

So the right to privacy is a political agenda item now? I don't get what you are saying, can you please clarify?

Re: Surveillance on UK council websites [pdf]

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The source for the story clearly has a specific political bias regarding its interpretation of privacy. That political bias doesn't impinge on the facts of the report though (merely that Brave believes it's worth surfacing loudly).

So the right to privacy is a political agenda item now? I don't get what you are saying, can you please clarify?

Whether pseudonymized background data collection constitutes a violation of right to privacy is a hot-button political topic. The GDPR has put a stake in the ground on this but is not the final say on the matter.

Re: Surveillance on UK council websites [pdf]

#95
post #72

What is interesting is the fact that none of the revenue / income from advertising if any, is showing in the accounts of the council. Checked a few at random and none of the account statements mention income from ads. Begs the question then not just of moral bankruptcy but of accounting this. If it's not implemented for income to the council then why ?

Did you cross-reference to the councils whose websites are serving ads?

Perhaps the ads are run by 3rd party web hosting providers. Just a guess.

Re: Surveillance on UK council websites [pdf]

#96
post #68
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And extortion.

Extortion would be threatening to reveal bad acts, in order to gain something from those threatened. If they always reveal bad acts, and don't even try to gain anything from the bad actors -- well, that's just plainly not extortion, nor even criminal in any way.

That would be blackmail. Extortion is "the practice of obtaining something, especially money, through force or threats." Brave extorts websites by threatening to block the site's choosen revenue stream and to instead earn revenues from visitors to the site unless the site uses Brave to funnel their revenues.

I don't have an issue with ad blockers or alternative payment methods but the way Brave combines the two in my opinion amounts to extortion.

Re: Surveillance on UK council websites [pdf]

#98
post #39
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you actually look at the sites, it's clear Brave hasn't done their homework or don't really understand the online ad ecosystem. For example, Enfield council ( enfield.gov.uk ) is using Google's ad server (DFP) set to show only internal ads. All their advertising is for cross-promoting projects and sites that Enfield council is involved with, including pest control, social lettings, a publicly-funded golf course,…

Brave's business model is fear mongering.

What's the difference betwen fear mongering and educating about risks?

Re: Surveillance on UK council websites [pdf]

#99
post #58
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you actually look at the sites, it's clear Brave hasn't done their homework or don't really understand the online ad ecosystem. For example, Enfield council ( enfield.gov.uk ) is using Google's ad server (DFP) set to show only internal ads. All their advertising is for cross-promoting projects and sites that Enfield council is involved with, including pest control, social lettings, a publicly-funded golf course,…

You are missing the fact that Enfield council has RTB House , Criteo retargeting , Tru Optik demand side platform , OpenX , Districtm, msecnd , doubleclick , omnitag integrated as 3rd party. This doesnt make sense if the intent was purely to show internal ads. The implementation here seems to be no different to any other news site. As a visitor to the council website , I would expect that the same privacy levels and…

GDS are bringing them together, slowly... I recently applied for Personal Independence Payments (PIP). And despite being a new 'system' plus the assessments are carried out by two large IT outsourcing companies (Capita & Atos). It is entirely paper-based (drive.google is blocked, they don't take emails...). If you request a copy of the report they photocopy the physical file and post it. They are so backwards it is unreal.

Plus there's no provisions for an alternative format to the 30 page paper form. Not very independent if handwriting is an issue (the target demographic is people with disabilities).

Don't get me started on the actual assessment/ assessor. (it's been a long day going through this stuff).

Re: Surveillance on UK council websites [pdf]

#100
Here's the service promoting advertising on Government web sites in the UK.[1]

From their FAQ:

Q: "Could the data collected be used to exploit individual circumstances?"

A: "There is no intention to do this. In all forms of advertising, companies want to appear in front of the people most likely to buy their products or services."

"Just as an advertiser will choose an ad space in a publication because of its readership and relevant editorial content, so an advertiser online will use data from cookies to target their ads to people who would be most interested."

"So, a user browsing for information on a benefits webpage might be shown ads relevant for people on a budget, like for reduced price travel or supermarket price cuts on everyday items or a comparison website to find the best tariff on gas and electricity."

The Enfield council's cookie disclosure page includes cookies from most known trackers.[2] This is an amusing read.

[1] https://can-digital.net/generating-income-from-council-websi... [2] https://new.enfield.gov.uk/privacy-notice/#6

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