Privacy groups hit out at fresh delay to adtech probe

Privacy groups have ramped up their attack on the data regulator’s continued failure to stamp out the adtech industry’s widespread abuse of personal data, after the Information Commissioner’s Office admitted it could be 2021 before its investigation into the market resumes.

The ICO first began reviewing data protection practices in the realtime bidding (RTB) sector in autumn 2018, after receiving official complaints on behalf of tech start-up Brave, the Open Rights Group and University College London.

In June last year, the ICO published its initial report into the sector, which said that the industry’s “immature” understanding of data protection is triggering the mass unlawful use of consumer data, leaving millions of users at risk of potential harm.

The report went on to set out nine “systemic concerns” the regulator has with the level of compliance of RTB, programmatic and behavioural advertising systems.

It gave the industry six months to change its practices but that deadline came and went with no enforcement, and, in January this year, the original complainants threatened legal action.

At the time, Brave chief privacy officer Johnny Ryan said: “Regulatory ambivalence cannot continue. The longer this data breach festers, the deeper the rot sets in and the further our data gets exploited. This must end. We are considering all options to put an end to the systemic breach, including direct challenges to the controllers and judicial oversight of the ICO.”

However, in May the ICO then rubbed salt into the wounds by saying it was pausing its investigation due to the Covid-19 pandemic, adding: “It is not our intention to put undue pressure on any industry at this time but our concerns about adtech remain and we aim to restart our work in the coming months, when the time is right.”

In the ICO’s annual report, published this week, the regulator admits that it could be 2021 before its investigation resumes but maintains it has already made major progress. The report states: “We have significantly raised awareness amongst the industry and media of the issues within the RTB ecosystem. The level of engagement from industry on this issue has demonstrated their appetite to address the concerns we have identified.

“In addition, we have developed…

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