No place to hide:

Further, the FTC alleged that there are no real ways for consumers to opt out of Kochava’s data marketplace, because even resetting their mobile advertising IDs—the data point that’s allegedly most commonly used to identify users in its database—won’t stop Kochava customers from using its products to determine "other points to connect to and securely solve for identity.”

Beyond that, the FTC alleged that Kochava also makes it easy for advertisers to target customers by categories that are “often based on specific sensitive and personal characteristics or attributes identified from its massive collection of data about individual consumers.” These “audience segments” allegedly allow advertisers to conduct invasive targeting by grouping people not just by common data points like age or gender, but by “places they have visited,” political associations, or even their current circumstances, like whether they’re expectant parents. Or advertisers can allegedly combine data points to target highly specific audience segments like “all the pregnant Muslim women in Kochava’s database,” the FTC alleged, or “parents with different ages of children.” \n

Kochava “provides an unprecedented view into a consumer’s personal actions, decisions, and behaviors,” the FTC alleged, seeming particularly concerned that Kochava collects barely any information from its customers before providing access to this sensitive information. “Kochava’s practices intrude into the most private areas of consumers’ lives and cause or are likely to cause substantial injury to consumers,” the complaint said.

Seems like another Cambridge Analytica waiting to happen.

Absolutely insane.

Stupendium’s The Data Stream is more applicable every day.

Name, age, qualifications

Race, faith, career aspirations

Political leaning, daily commute

Marital status, favourite fruit

Family, browser, medical history

Hobbies, interests, brand affinity

Fashion, style, your occupation

Gender identity, orientation

Lifestyle choices, dietary needs

The marketing contact you choose to receive

Posts, likes, employers, friends

Social bias, exploitable trends

Tastes, culture, phone of choice

Facial structure, the tone of your voice

If it’s inside your head, we know

You can’t escape the ebb and flow

This is the best summary I could come up with:

US District Judge B. Lynn Winmill recently unsealed a court filing, an amended complaint that perhaps contains the most evidence yet gathered by the FTC in its long-standing mission to crack down on data brokers allegedly “substantially” harming consumers by invading their privacy.

According to the FTC, Kochava’s customers, ostensibly advertisers, can access this data to trace individuals’ movements—including to sensitive locations like hospitals, temporary shelters, and places of worship, with a promised accuracy within “a few meters”—over a day, a week, a month, or a year.

Beyond that, the FTC alleged that Kochava also makes it easy for advertisers to target customers by categories that are “often based on specific sensitive and personal characteristics or attributes identified from its massive collection of data about individual consumers.”

These “audience segments” allegedly allow advertisers to conduct invasive targeting by grouping people not just by common data points like age or gender, but by “places they have visited,” political associations, or even their current circumstances, like whether they’re expectant parents.

Instead, Kochava “actively promotes its data as a means to evade consumers’ privacy choices,” the FTC alleged.

Further, the FTC alleged that there are no real ways for consumers to opt out of Kochava’s data marketplace, because even resetting their mobile advertising IDs—the data point that’s allegedly most commonly used to identify users in its database—won’t stop Kochava customers from using its products to determine "other points to connect to and securely solve for identity.”

The original article contains 662 words, the summary contains 243 words. Saved 63%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

I really must voice that while yes I am concerned with all the data collection, it must be pretty weak sauce as I rarely see an advertisement that actually resonates with me. It is like they have no idea who I am which I find some utterly baffling given all the data they have. Something is missing in the story. I half suspect the data is not accurate and not of high integrity. Still a concern for sure.