Security News > 2021 > June > Ex-Brave staffer launches GDPR sueball in Germany over tech giants' real-time bidding for ad inventory

Former Brave chief policy officer Johnny Ryan is continuing his crusade against the online advertising industry by filing a lawsuit against Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, and US telco AT&T in Germany.

Ryan's latest campaign organisation, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, said in a statement that online advertising amounts to "The Biggest. Data. Breach. Ever" and accusing internet adland of compiling "Secret dossiers" on every single netizen.

IAB is, in the ICCL's words, a New York-based body which "Sets the rules that govern Google and Facebook and the global online advertising industry."

ICCL continued: "The private things we do online are collected from a vast online advertising system that operates behind the scenes on virtually every website and app. This online advertising system [is] called Real-Time Bidding."

As a technological innovation for Big Tech companies to make money from advertisers, it has far surpassed anything anyone else has devised for microtargeting ads at consumers.

Ryan has proposed an alternative to RTB so advertisers' wallets don't shrink: last year he pointed to the Dutch state broadcaster NPO, which saw revenues rise when it ditched targeted ad-tracking in favour of contextual advertising.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2021/06/17/johnny_ryan_lawsuit_adtech/