The decision of the European Court of Justice could lead to tougher ad tracking rules in the future. In essence, the court has set a precedent that alleged data is still personal data.
This means that if the company can find out something about you, then this information is protected in the same way as the personal data that you provided directly …
Ad Tracking Rules
App tracking on iPhone works because Apple assigns a unique ID to your device. It doesn’t reveal any details about you, but it does allow the ad network to see (for example) that iOS user 30255BCE-4CDA-4F62-91DC-4758FDFF8512 has visited gadget websites and therefore would be a good target for gadget ads.
It also allows them to see that iOS user 30255BCE-4CDA-4F62-91DC-4758FDFF8512 was shown an ad for a certain product on a certain website and then went to a certain seller’s site to buy it, so that ad was (probably) successful .
The strict European privacy law GDPR means that EU citizens must consent to the use of their data (with a few exceptions), but so far it has been assumed that this only protects data directly provided by an individual. The alleged data used in ad tracking was not considered to be subject to the GDPR.
Estimated data is also protected, Europe’s Supreme Court says.
TechCrunch reports that the specific case involved the release by the Lithuanian government of the name of someone’s spouse, from which it can be inferred that they are gay. The court ruled that this kind of purported data is also protected and cannot be used without consent.
The relevant part of the case before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) concerned whether the publication of a spouse’s or partner’s name amounted to processing of sensitive data, as it could reveal sexual orientation. The court decided yes. And, as a consequence, the same rule applies to inferences associated with other special category data types.
Dr. Gabriela Zanfir-Fortuna, vice president of global privacy at Washington-based think tank Future of Privacy Forum, sums up CEC’s “mandatory interpretation” as affirming that data that could disclose an individual’s sexual orientation “by means of an intelligent operation involving comparison or deduction” are in fact sensitive data protected by Article 9 of the GDPR.
This can have huge implications for what types of data processing companies are allowed to do when it comes to customer profiling and advertising purposes.
“I think this could have serious future implications in all contexts where Article 9 applies, including online advertising, dating apps, location data indicating places of worship or clinics visited, food choices for air travel. and others,” predicted Zanfir-Fortune. “.
Prior to this ruling, there was general agreement among data processors that they could combine any knowledge they had about someone to create a profile, and that any data they derived, rather than collected directly, belonged to them. and can be used at your discretion. The ruling says that this is not the case.
This affects ad tracking because companies are constantly making these kinds of inferences and developing personalized ad targeting based on them.
For example, if someone is shopping for pregnancy-related products (such as maternity clothes), they are more likely to be presented as a parent-to-be and targeted for products intended for pregnant women and parents of newborns. Similarly, if you watch MacBook reviews on YouTube, you will likely be targeted by advertisements for MacBook accessories such as cases, cases, docks, keys, and so on.
Confirms app tracking transparency
Apple App Tracking Transparency was designed to allow iPhone users to choose whether or not to allow this type of profiling. The court’s ruling could well mean that it’s illegal to do this to EU citizens, even if they consent to being tracked.
Dr. Lukasz Olejnik, an independent consultant and researcher on security and privacy from Europe, unequivocally predicted serious consequences, especially for advertising technologies.
“At the moment, this is the single most important and unambiguous interpretation of the GDPR,” he told us. “It supports Apple’s approach.”
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