Rebel Tech AllianceWhat is the RTB System?
Definition
RTB stands for Real Time Bidding. It is an automated online auction system invented by Google to trade access to our personal data with advertisers. Millions of bids are placed by advertisers, trillions of times per second, for the right to place an ad in a certain location, using micro-targeting based on our personal data. It is also refered to as 'Bid Stream'.That's the official description. Unofficially it has been called the biggest data breach in history.
RTB constantly broadcasts sensitive information about people as they use the internet. The data are broadcast to large numbers of other entities without security measures to protect the data.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-time_bidding
Why is the RTB system a problem?
If the RTB system was solely used by advertisers it would still feel creepy, but it would not be too dangerous.The problem is that it is not only advertisers that can access the data. Anyone can pay to pose as an advertiser and gain access. And it gets worse: it's not only the winning bid that gets the data, anyone bidding in each auction gets access to the data!
And that's not all. The data is aggregated, meaning that your data is put in with the data of others like you, so that supposedly you cannot be identified. But it turns out that it's possible to 'disaggregate' or 'de-anonymise' the data, if you really want to and you have the technical skill. This is possible by triangulating certain pieces of data with other datasets e.g. credit card purchases datasets.
This is not just theory. This report shows that foreign governments have been posing as advertisers, gaining access to RTB data, and using it to keep track of the location and behaviour of key EU, UK and US political figures and military personnel 😲
Data brokers
Related to the RTB system are Data brokers. Data brokers are effectively totally unregulated, and they buy and sell every intimate fact of your life. They get this data from various sources including RTB, and trackers in websites, phone apps and IoT devices. The reason every device in your life – smart speaker, car, toothbrush, thermostate – spies on you all the time is because data brokers will buy any data from anyone and sell it to anyone, too.
Data brokerages are as big a problem as the likes of Google and Meta (indeed, Big Tech buys a lot of data from brokerages, as do agencies like the DEA, ICE and the FBI, who treat the brokerages as a warrant-free, off-the-books mass surveillance system).
Data brokerages combine data about your movements, purchases, friends, medical problems, education, love life, and more, and bucket you into categories that marketers (or scammers) can buy access to. There are over 650,000 of these categories, including "seniors with dementia," "depressed teenagers" and "US military personnel with gambling problems". Creepy? Yes 🤢
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_broker