Senator Ron Wyden has unfreeze a tilt of 100 of closemouthed , foreign - owned party that are buying up Americans ’ data . Some of the customers include companies base in states that are seemingly “ unfriendly ” to the U.S. , like Russia and China .
First report byMotherboard , the newsworthiness comes after late information request made by a bipartizan alliance of Senators , who askedprominent advertising telephone exchange to supply a limpid inclination of any “ foreign - headquartered or foreign - majority have ” house to whom they sell consumer “ bidstream data point . ” Such data is typically collected , bought , and sold amidst the intricate advertising ecosystem , which uses “ literal - time bidding ” to monetize consumer preferences and sake .
Wyden , who helped precede the effort , has utter concerns that Americans ’ information could fall into the hands of foreign intelligence agency agencies to “ supercharge hacking , blackmail , and influence hunting expedition , ” as a old letter from him and other Senators puts it .
Photo: Adam Berry/Getty Images (Getty Images)
“ Few Americans realize that some vendue participant are siphon off off and store ‘ bidstream ’ data to compile exhaustive dossiers about them . In twist , these dossier are being openly sold to anyone with a credit card , include to hedge funds , political run , and even to governments,”the letter states .
The information request were station to large advertising companies , including Google , AT&T , OpenX , Twitter , Verizon , PubMatic , Index Exchange , and Magnite .
In reply to the information requests , most companies seem to have responded with vague , evasive response . However , advertizement firm Magnite hasprovided a listof over 150 different company it sells to while declining to notice which countries they are based in . Wyden ’s staff spent time researching the companies and Motherboard describe that the list includes the likes of Adfalcon — a large ad firm based in Dubaithat calls itselfthe “ first mobile ad internet in the Middle East”—as well as Formosan companies like Adtiming and Mobvista International .
Magnite ’s response further shows that the kinds of data it provides to these companies may include all sorts of user information — including years , name , and the site names and orbit they visit , twist identifiers , IP address , and other information that would help any discern perceiver piece together a fair comprehensive characterisation of who you are , where you ’re located , and what you ’re concerned in .
you could perusethe full listof companies that Magnite works with and , foreign ownership away , they just naturally sound creepy . With confidence - invigorate name like “ 12Mnkys , ” “ Freakout , ” “ CyberAgent Dynalst , ” and “ Zucks , ” these firms — many of which you ’d be hard - press to even witness an approachable website for — are doing God knows what with the data they procure .
The question naturally get up : How is it that these troupe that we sleep together literally nothing about seem to have approach to so much of our personal information ? Also : Where are the federal regulations when you take them ?
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