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Google allowed a sanctioned Russian ad company to harvest user data for months

propublica.org

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Re: Google allowed a sanctioned Russian ad company to harvest user data for months

#41

Post by pdimitar »

jollybean wrote: post #31
pdimitar wrote: post #20

What the hell does the recent Russian hostility has to do with this? Sanctions? You mean that the privacy laws that have been ignored and laughed at are not a bad enough violation? Apparently it's not, huh. Google and Facebook have been extremely anti-privacy since practically their inception but suddenly NOW it's a problem because an attached Russian company has been doing what Google has been enabling any company t…

It's not about privacy from companies who want to sell you vitamins, it's about Russian government wanting to know who you are so they can target you with political misinformation etc..

I get that. But what makes people think this has not been going on -- with many other governments (plus Russia) -- since Google and Facebook ads became a thing?

I am pretty sure it was happening for a long time.

Re: Google allowed a sanctioned Russian ad company to harvest user data for months

#42

Post by killjoywashere »

jaywalk wrote: post #12
pessimizer wrote: post #8

Is this really a complaint that a single, well-established Russian ad company got the same information from Google that they would give to any US company with an email address? This is part of the cognitive dissonance that insists that Russia has the most effective intelligence services in the world, that can manipulate elections at will and subsume every US social movement to spread its propaganda, but is too stupid…

This company was explicitly sanctioned, which means American companies are not allowed to do business with them. So yes, it's really a complaint. Sure we can't catch everything, but we can at least stop the obvious stuff like this.

I suspect Google's buganizer is now tracking an issue "Automate sanction discovery and response."

Re: Google allowed a sanctioned Russian ad company to harvest user data for months

#43

Post by thereddaikon »

apstls wrote: post #25
BrainVirus wrote: post #18

The sad thing about news like this is that most people only pay attention at all because they've been bombarded with anti-Russian propaganda, not because this showcases Google's awful anti-privacy practices. Despite years of warnings, examples and analysis of where this can lead, the only thing that matters in the end is some emotional trigger word that makes the public think they are dealing with an "outgroup". The…

Accurate reporting of Russia's cyber activities is not propaganda.

If its done by the government or a government owned body it is by definition. That being said, Propublica is neither a government nor is it a government owned news agency. So its not propaganda.

Re: Google allowed a sanctioned Russian ad company to harvest user data for months

#44

Post by theptip »

> This means Google may have turned over such critical information as unique mobile phone IDs, IP addresses, location information and details about users’ interests and online activity

Can someone help me to understand this?

I thought Google kept this kind of user-preference (interests/activity) data to itself, and used that as the sauce powering its ad auctions. If you run a site, GA will give you IP, location, etc. for inbound traffic, but I didn't think they would give you data on other users.

Does Google actually sell user preference data and IPs in bulk? What product are they referring to here?

Re: Google allowed a sanctioned Russian ad company to harvest user data for months

#45

Post by avgcorrection »

judge2020 wrote: post #4
avgcorrection wrote: post #2

> Last April, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators sent a letter to Google and other major ad technology companies warning of the national security implications of data shared as part of the digital ad buying process. They said this user data “would be a goldmine for foreign intelligence services that could exploit it to inform and supercharge hacking, blackmail, and influence campaigns.” The US (or insert ) for sure…

The letter: https://www.warner.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/4/a/4a3293...

No post body was provided.

Re: Google allowed a sanctioned Russian ad company to harvest user data for months

#46

Post by jonny_eh »

theptip wrote: post #44

> This means Google may have turned over such critical information as unique mobile phone IDs, IP addresses, location information and details about users’ interests and online activity Can someone help me to understand this? I thought Google kept this kind of user-preference (interests/activity) data to itself, and used that as the sauce powering its ad auctions. If you run a site, GA will give you IP, location, etc.…

> Google allowed RuTarget, a Russian company that helps brands and agencies buy digital ads, to access and store data about people browsing websites and apps in Ukraine and other parts of the world

In other words, they collected data via websites and apps, just like any other JS or native ad library does. This wasn't data that Google collected, then handed over. It's a misleading headline IMO.

Re: Google allowed a sanctioned Russian ad company to harvest user data for months

#47

Post by angio »

jollybean wrote: post #31
pdimitar wrote: post #20

What the hell does the recent Russian hostility has to do with this? Sanctions? You mean that the privacy laws that have been ignored and laughed at are not a bad enough violation? Apparently it's not, huh. Google and Facebook have been extremely anti-privacy since practically their inception but suddenly NOW it's a problem because an attached Russian company has been doing what Google has been enabling any company t…

It's not about privacy from companies who want to sell you vitamins, it's about Russian government wanting to know who you are so they can target you with political misinformation etc..

If the US had serious privacy protection rules there would be no data to sell to russian companies. Obviously that also means there would be no data to pass to 3 letter agencies, so probably we won't see them any time soon.

Re: Google allowed a sanctioned Russian ad company to harvest user data for months

#48

Post by smsm42 »

imiric wrote: post #40

> Google Play has policies in place that prohibit using this data for purposes other than advertising and user analytics. Any claims that advertising ID was created to facilitate data sales are simply false. How do policies _prevent_ data sales exactly? Their policies can say whatever they want—if the data is available in the first place, it _will_ be misused, regardless of whatever your policies say. If your enforce…

It doesn't prevent anything, it just allows Google to claim it's not their fault. We "prohibited" it, what else could we do!

Re: Google allowed a sanctioned Russian ad company to harvest user data for months

#49

Post by serf »

killjoywashere wrote: post #42
jaywalk wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This company was explicitly sanctioned, which means American companies are not allowed to do business with them. So yes, it's really a complaint. Sure we can't catch everything, but we can at least stop the obvious stuff like this.

I suspect Google's buganizer is now tracking an issue "Automate sanction discovery and response."

sanction adherence isn't some new concept to a group like Google.

Re: Google allowed a sanctioned Russian ad company to harvest user data for months

#50

Post by artificial »

apstls wrote: post #25
BrainVirus wrote: post #18

The sad thing about news like this is that most people only pay attention at all because they've been bombarded with anti-Russian propaganda, not because this showcases Google's awful anti-privacy practices. Despite years of warnings, examples and analysis of where this can lead, the only thing that matters in the end is some emotional trigger word that makes the public think they are dealing with an "outgroup". The…

Accurate reporting of Russia's cyber activities is not propaganda.

According to Mr Bernays who wrote the book Propaganda. The best kind of propaganda is true. It’s not only propaganda when it’s nefarious or pernicious. Effective military cyber capability is an excellent example.
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