Security News > 2022 > May > Your data's auctioned off up to 987 times a day, NGO reports

The RTB industry was worth more than $117 billion last year, the ICCL report said.

Information shared with advertisers can include nearly anything that would help them better target ads, and those advertisers bid on the ad space based on the information the ad network provides.

Google owns the largest ad network that was included in the ICCL's report, and it alone offers RTB data to 4,698 companies in just the US. Other large advertising networks include Xandr, owned by Microsoft since late 2021, Verizon, PubMatic and more.

Not included in ICCL's report are Amazon or Facebook's RTB networks, as the industry figures it used for its report don't include their ad networks.

Is RTB violating any laws at all? Yes, claims Gartner Privacy Research VP Nader Henein.

Johnny Ryan is no stranger to lawsuits: He left Brave, maker of the privacy-centric browser, to take his position at the ICCL, where he spearheaded several cases against the IAB and the practice of RTB. According to the ICCL, it is currently involved in three ongoing cases involving RTB: One in Hamburg against Microsoft's Xandr advertising exchange, an Irish High Court case against the Data Protection Commission for failing to investigate RTB violations, and a third case in Brussels working against an IAB appeal against the earlier Belgian ruling.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/05/18/advertisers_broadcast_pii_more_than/