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🌐✨ Exploring the Impact of the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA) 🔍 Navigating the evolving digital landscape? The DMA, effective since November 2022, marks a milestone in regulating online platforms and safeguarding user privacy. Join us on a journey through its objectives, responsibilities for gatekeepers and small businesses, and profound effects on consent management and user privacy. 🚀💻 Read the full article for a simplified breakdown of the DMA, its goals, and its ripple effects on big tech companies, smaller businesses, and you – the digital user. 🌐🔐 #DigitalMarketsAct #UserPrivacy #TechRegulation #DigitalTransformation https://lnkd.in/dv8jZqf8

The U.K.'s privacy regulator, the ICO, has identified gaps in Google's proposed Privacy Sandbox, a technology designed to replace cookies in online advertising. The ICO's draft report suggests that these gaps could allow continued user tracking, undermining privacy. Despite these concerns, Google is working with the ICO and plans to implement these changes globally, following the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority's approval. Critics, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, argue that the new system still allows tracking by Google. Ad-tech companies are also testing the technology, with some noting improvements in privacy but acknowledging remaining loopholes. Read more here: https://shorturl.at/epuI5

While delegating 3PC deprecation to users is a clever way for Google to inoculate the Privacy Sandbox from anticompetitive claims, Chrome's mysterious new privacy "experience" will need to pass muster with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Information Commissioner (ICO). Would the toothsome twosome approve a 'GTT'? Require granularity on par with the current CMP experience... for every website visited (not a great user experience)? It's too early to tell. But the CMA has called for public comments on Google's proposal, including on the "potential issues/risks of centralised/browser-based controls", and it seem likely we'll get something (1) with more context than Apple's ATT, and (2) less overwhelming than some CMP implementations.

The recent revelation that Apple and Google secretly provided users' sensitive push notification data to U.S. and foreign governments raises urgent questions. While the companies hide behind legal gag orders, their foremost duty should be protecting customers, not expanding state surveillance powers. Push notifications contain deeply personal information like apps used, locations, contacts and even message contents in some cases. This data enables profiling and tracking individual behaviors on a vast scale without public consent or proper judicial oversight. Rather than treat people as cattle in centralized, opaque systems maximizing extraction for corporate interests, technology firms should embrace openness and user empowerment. If iOS adopted customizable open-source models like Android, concerned citizens could better control their privacy while still enjoying innovative hardware. Instead of dismissing sideloading and modifications as dangerous, users deserve freedom over devices central to their lives. Regulators must also challenge the collusive overreach enabling unauthorized access beyond what democratic principles dictate as proportionate. Sophisticated cryptographic methods today permit lawful targeted access without compromising entire populations' rights. And citizens should demand software leaders uphold their social compact around transparency and consent in data use. No piece of technology, however beloved, merits blind trust or immunity from accountability when breaching public good. If companies like Apple genuinely cared for user privacy as much as they claim, their actions would reflect that commitment beyond hollow marketing platitudes. Citizens must unite to assert their modern digital rights - our collective future depends on the outcome. https://lnkd.in/eeeisiqq

Google will now let EU users select which services share their data, thanks to the DMA Google just announced a change for users in Europe that will let them decide exactly how much data-sharing they’re comfortable with. The new policy, which the company said was in response to the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), allows users to opt out of data sharing across all, some, or none of a select number of Google’s services. The services listed include YouTube, Search, ad services, Google Play, Chrome, Google Shopping, and Google Maps. But the policy isn’t watertight — Google will still share user data when it’s necessary to complete a task (e.g., if you’re paying for a purchase on Google Shopping with Google Pay) in order to comply with the law, stop fraud, or protect against abuse. https://lnkd.in/dH8s2H7z

Developing and regulating standards for how technology firms grant businesses access to their platforms is anything but straightforward. It’s a tricky balancing act between ensuring equal access, protecting privacy, maintaining security and defending platform integrity. Our latest insights piece by Nitika Bagaria and Arzu Mammadova dives into these challenges and trade-offs. Read more here: https://bit.ly/3xltG3Z #competition #digitalmarketsact #bigtech #antitrust #appmarketplace #paymentsystems #platformsecurity

Talk about a betrayal of trust😡. Google has reached a 'preliminary settlement' in a lawsuit over its secret tracking of users while in incognito mode. No details released yet, but the lawsuit was seeking billions. The lawsuit was filed in 2020, and affected 'millions of users'. I'm sure it would be BILLIONS of users if we were looking internationally.  This after being found guilty last month of antitrust behavior with illegal policies in the app store (Google Play), when Epic Games (the makers of Fortnight) refused to be extorted. Remember that? In that judgement, not only will Google pay 700M in damages, but (more importantly) they will have to make it easier to load apps from other sources, will adjust their commission structure, change their scare tactics against apps from other sources, and make other concessions. The thing is, antitrust by online tech giants has clear analogues with antitrust (anticompetitive) behavior anywhere else - monopolies have a way of abusing their power and need to be held in check to retain an even playing field and ensure a competitive business environment. It's easy enough to understand, and relatively easy to address. That's not to say we don’t need better antitrust legislation - we do - but at least the remedies are pretty straightforward. Stiff fines, mandated changes of behavior, and the nuclear option of breaking huge companies apart (remember Standard Oil and Bell Telephone?) Yes, it's been a been a while, but the teeth are there.  But this privacy matter is another thing entirely. I'm just not sure how Google can 'make this right'. Apparently they were seeking as much as $5,000 per user – but this was evidently a scare tactic, and it worked (hence the settlement). Its not like Google was unclear in its policy. They weren’t trying to obfuscate anything - they claimed users were not being tracked while in incognito mode, yet they were. There was obviously just too much money to be lost by giving users some modicum of privacy.  What makes this so important is that it’s about more than promises, more than privacy, and more than money. It’s about trust, and that’s what makes it so difficult to address. Stiff fines or effectively a class action suit that compensates users might be punishing for the company and fun for the receiver of funds, but it’s not going to restore trust. All this will have done is make people more cynical and less likely to believe any of their service providers when they explain what data they are collecting, and what they will be using it for. If I were the judge, I would have made it simple. Google - remove incognito mode altogether. Consumers - want online privacy? Use another browser. I know I will. https://wapo.st/3RDiwOy https://bit.ly/47sSbJ6 https://bit.ly/48EWp0W #onlineprivacy #onlinesecurity #antitrust #privacy

At Choozle, we've got powerful cookieless audience alternatives so you don't have to just rely on contextual targeting. While Google keeps kicking the cookie can down the road, there's no need for you to do the same. Reach out and let's chat cookieless strategies for your CTV and programmatic campaigns. #adtech #cookiescrumble

The announcement was made on Tuesday ahead of quarterly reports from Google and the ever-watchful U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), keeping tabs on how this whole situation unfolds. “We recognize that there are ongoing challenges related to reconciling divergent feedback from the industry, regulators and developers, and will continue to engage closely with the entire ecosystem,” according to a statement Google posted on its website for the Privacy Sandbox. “It’s also critical that the CMA has sufficient time to review all evidence including results from industry tests, which the CMA has asked market participants to provide by the end of June. Given both of these significant considerations, we will not complete third-party cookie deprecation during the second half of Q4. Google did not outline a more specific timetable beyond hoping for 2025. Cookieless is never ending story... More here: https://lnkd.in/dsg9Ks86

Are you also having some sort of collective déjà vu? Google has, for the third time, pushed back the deadline for deprecating third-party cookies, now aiming for 2025. How is the delay justified? Well, it's not just Google calling the shots here. They coordinate with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to make sure the Privacy Sandbox doesn't provide any unfair advantage. All that scrutiny for a good reason. Last week, another UK watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), expressed concerns the Privacy Sandbox could still allow user identification, which defeats its whole purpose. I know that some in the ad industry crave certainty, but this delay does offer companies some extra time to prepare for the changes. For more details, check out the links to The Wall Street Journal and Digiday articles in the comments. #Google #PrivacySandbox #Cookies #CookielessFuture