Privacy proves elusive in Google's Privacy Sandbox Like FLoC, FLEDGE isn't yet ready to fly for web-based ads, judging from this proof-of-concept exploit code Applications29 Jul 2021 | 17
Watchdog slaps down Three's claims to be building the UK's 'fastest 5G network' – again Company can't seem to help running its mouth, despite ASA's ruling last year Networks21 Jul 2021 | 18
Google herds FLoC back to the lab for undisclosed post-third-party-cookie ad tech modifications Privacy advocates say surgery on bird-themed system must happen in public Applications08 Jul 2021 | 13
Google: About that whole getting rid of third-party cookies thing – we're gonna need another year or so Plan to reinvent advertising turns out to be more difficult than expected Personal Tech25 Jun 2021 | 20
Ex-Brave staffer launches GDPR sueball in Germany over tech giants' real-time bidding for ad inventory Privacy browser's former chief policy officer calls web advertising ecosystem 'the Biggest. Data. Breach. Ever' Security17 Jun 2021 | 21
Guy who wrote women are 'soft, weak, cosseted, naive' lasted about a month at Apple until internal revolt Updated Ad tech engineer out after autobiography sparks protest – and what does this say about iGiant's hiring process? Personal Tech13 May 2021 | 160
Signal banned for booking obviously targeted ads? That story's too good to be true, Facebook claims Antisocial giant dismisses chat app rival's 'stunt' in escalating war of words Personal Tech05 May 2021 | 25
It doesn't really matter how many of us gripe about Google, nothing can stop it printing billions of dollars Profit, sales soar as giant seemingly scales beyond our perception of reality and scrutiny of society PaaS + IaaS27 Apr 2021 | 10
Facebook job ads algorithm still discriminates on gender, LinkedIn not so much Gender bias found in employment adverts despite antisocial network giant's past promises Software09 Apr 2021 | 21
EFF urges Google to ground its FLoC: 'Pro-privacy' third-party cookie replacement not actually great for privacy 'That is not the world we want, nor the one users deserve' Security05 Mar 2021 | 57
AdGuard names 6,000+ web trackers that use CNAME chicanery: Feel free to feed them into your browser's filter Assuming your content blocker can scrutinize DNS Security04 Mar 2021 | 38
Google says once third-party cookies are toast, Chrome won't help ad networks track individuals around the web Notes an 'erosion of trust' – gee, wonder who could be responsible for that... Personal Tech03 Mar 2021 | 73
Euro privacy watchdog calls for end of targeted advertising plus a squeeze on the processing of personal info Could the lucrative era of light-touch regulation finally be over for Google and Facebook? Personal Tech11 Feb 2021 | 37
In a trial run, Google Chrome to corral netizens into groups for tailored web ads rather than target individuals Analysis The third-party advertising cookie: Barely tolerated anymore. We can rebuild it, internet titan insists, we have the technology. Personal Tech25 Jan 2021 | 29
Google AMP gets a shock to its system as advisor quits, lawsuit claims foul play No one's AMPing up the love Software19 Dec 2020 | 42
Wait ages for an antitrust battle and three come along at once: Google sued by 38 US states over search monopoly Silicon Valley titan allegedly screwed rivals with exclusionary agreements Personal Tech17 Dec 2020 | 15
About $15m in advertising booked to appear on millions of smart TVs was never seen by anyone, says Oracle Yes, Oracle the database giant. 2020 keeps on being 2020 Personal Tech17 Dec 2020 | 51
Ad blocking made Google throw its toys out of the pram – and now even more control is being taken from us Column We need regulations on web advertising Security14 Dec 2020 | 186
Arriving in 2021, the UK's Digital Markets Unit 'could' start to do something about the power of online ad giants But Parliament seems a bit busy at the moment to legislate Science27 Nov 2020 | 18
Who watches the watchers? Samsung does so it can fling ads at owners of its smart TVs Customers forgot they are the product when splashing out on a nice telly Security30 Sep 2020 | 135
This'll upset the Apple cart: 1,200 iOS apps downloaded 300 million times a month include 'ad fraud' code Updated Synk accuses China-based Mintegral of distributing malicious SDK Personal Tech24 Aug 2020 | 14
Glum Alphabet execs look up from red-ink ad figures. What will we do, they ask. Ahem, coughs Google Cloud Chocolate Factory's as-a-service stuff grows as advertising, profit takes a tumble SaaS31 Jul 2020 | 7
Australia sues Google over data collection practices that merged DoubleClick data to create single user profiles Alleges opt-in that promised “more control” actually sent more data without informed consent. Google 'strongly disagrees' Legal27 Jul 2020 | 15
No one can compete with Google... unless it opens its click-and-query data to rivals, says UK markets watchdog Sharing's caring On-Prem02 Jul 2020 | 1
The incumbent President of the United States of America ran now-banned Facebook ads loaded with Nazi references We wanted flying cars and space travel for 2020 but instead we got re-runs of fascist propaganda Personal Tech18 Jun 2020 | 156
Better late than never... Google Chrome to kill off 'tiny' number of mobile web ads that gobble battery, CPU power Could have done with this years ago to stave off rise of advert blockers but fine, OK, whatever, now it's coming Personal Tech14 May 2020 | 34
'A' is for ad money oddly gone missing: Probe finds middlemen siphon off half of online advertising spend 'B' is for basic controls that up and disappeared Personal Tech07 May 2020 | 38
Quibi, JetBlue, Wish, others accused of leaking millions of email addresses to ad orgs via HTTP referer headers From URL to UR-Hell Security30 Apr 2020 | 8
Google says no more shady anonymous web ads – if you want your billboard up, you've got to show us some valid ID Um, it wasn't doing this already? That explains a lot Personal Tech23 Apr 2020 | 29
Twitter takes away twits' ability to limit ad data sharing – after telling investors its own privacy settings hurt revenue Except you in Europe and UK, you still get to control over analytics fuel Personal Tech09 Apr 2020 | 24
Decent, legal, honest and searchable: C'mon, Ofcom. Let us check up on the ad-slingers ourselves Column It's a hard job... why not outsource it? Legal21 Feb 2020 | 29
From WordPad to WordAds: Microsoft caught sneaking nagging Office promos into venerable text editor beta Hidden for now, probably coming to a desktop near you, soon, ish Software22 Jan 2020 | 114
Fuming French monopoly watchdog is so incensed by Google's 'random' web ad rules, it's fining the US giant, er, <1% annual profit Payer cette petite amende, s'il vous plaît Personal Tech20 Dec 2019 | 38
TAG, you're s*!t: Internet advertising industry bods admit self-policing approach is a sham Special report Meanwhile: Trustworthy Accountability Group CEO dismisses ax-grinding critics Personal Tech30 Sep 2019 | 27
Brave accuses Google of trampling Europe's GDPR with stealthy netizen-stalking adverts Our ads? Stomping on people's privacy? Never! Not us! sobs search giant Security04 Sep 2019 | 22
Developer reconsiders npm command-line ad caper after outcry Effort to help fund open-source projects proves too much Software30 Aug 2019 | 34
Maltese browser game biz flings €1m sueball at Google over Adsense kerfuffle Claims to have made nearly €800k from ad clicks On-Prem29 Aug 2019 | 33
How dodgy browser plugins, web scripts can silently rewrite that URL you were about to hit – and throw you into an internet wormhole Analysis Clickjacking code found on sites with 43 million daily visits total Security15 Aug 2019 | 37
Facebook chucks 1.5 hours' profit at Citizens Advice anti-scam charity to defuse consumer champ's defamation suit Meanwhile, UK users still first line of defence against fake ads Legal16 Jul 2019 | 20
UK competition bods to stick probe into worrying lack of said competition in online advertising Facebook, Google have a reason to be worried Legal05 Jul 2019 | 16
The seven deadly sins of the 2010s: No, not pride, sloth, etc. The seven UI 'dark patterns' that trick you into buying stuff Present in more than 1 in 10 top websites (and yes, greed covers them all) Personal Tech26 Jun 2019 | 137
Google takes the PIS out of advertising: New algo securely analyzes shared encrypted data sets without leaking contents Plus: MongoDB crams end-to-end crypto into database tech Security19 Jun 2019 | 11
Egg on North Face: Wikipedia furious after glamp-wear giant swaps article pics for sneaky ad shots – and even brags about it in a video Updated 'We hacked the results to reach one of the most difficult places: The top of the world’s largest search engine' Bootnotes29 May 2019 | 79
Google relents slightly in ad-blocker crackdown – for paid-up enterprise Chrome users, everyone else not so much Freeloaders will be limited to less capable content filtering Software29 May 2019 | 76
Apple arms web browser privacy torpedo, points it directly at Google's advertising model Safari tech ready to be ignored by online ad giants like all other privacy proposals Software22 May 2019 | 38
UK watchdog slaps 'misleading' Voda ad: Gigafast... maybe so – but not for £23 Virgin complaint upheld Networks17 Apr 2019 | 31
Facebook ad platform discriminates all on its own, say boffins Bigots, racists and haters rejoice! You are going to get bias out of the box Personal Tech04 Apr 2019 | 49
Carphone Warehouse thwacked by UK Advertising watchdog for a Cyber Monday wobble Customers spared from buying an iPhone while credit scoring system had a lie-down Legal20 Mar 2019 | 18
UK's ICO event on targeted ads opens floor to the adtech industry: Anybody? No? Speak for 10 minutes. Hello? How to wind up your opponents 101: Refuse to engage Security07 Mar 2019 | 14
BT 'UK's most powerful Wi-Fi'? Why, fie, for shame! – ads watchdog Blood hath been shed 'ere now. Take that claim down anon, orders ASA Networks27 Feb 2019 | 70
Chrome ad, content blockers beg Google: Don't execute our code! Wait, no, do execute our code – just don't kill us! Worried devs list Manifest v3 problems they need tweaked Software20 Feb 2019 | 32
Europe taps Facebook, Google, Twitter on the shoulder. So about those promises to stamp out lies, bots, dodgy ads? Internet giants hand in their homework – here's a summary Legal30 Jan 2019 | 22
Gripe to UK, Ireland, Poland: Ad tech industry inhales, then 'leaks' sensitive info on our health, politics, religion Regulators asked to tackle 'systemic' GDPR breaches Legal28 Jan 2019 | 24
Facebook's pay-for-more-eyeballs shtick looks too good to be true: Page views, Likes from 'fake' profiles Analysis Small biz raises doubts over value of social network's ad tech On-Prem14 Jan 2019 | 28
This July, Google will weep for there are no more worlds to banhammer: 'Bad ads' to be blocked globally Advertising giant insists annoying banners are rare... and killable by Chrome Software09 Jan 2019 | 22
Google: All right, screw it, from this Christmas, Chrome will block ALL adverts on dodgy sites Enough with the abusive ads, says ad-dependent biz Personal Tech05 Nov 2018 | 40
Euro eggheads call it: Facebook political ads do change voters' minds – and they worked rather well for Trump in 2016 'Brexit and the election of Donald might be largely due to the use of data analytics' Legal24 Oct 2018 | 83
So Brave: Browser biz sics Brit watchdogs on Google's info slurpage Software maker and allies demand regulatory strike on behavioral advertising Personal Tech13 Sep 2018 | 12
Google skewered in ad sting after Oracle-backed bods turn troll Search giant complains of misrepresentation, database titan raises an eyebrow Legal05 Sep 2018 | 32
Facebook flat-out 'lies' about how many people can see its ads – lawsuit 'Made-up PR numbers' used by social giant to exaggerate online advertising audience On-Prem17 Aug 2018 | 62
Google's Alphabet hit by Europe's other GDPR: Global Domination = Profit Reduction Net income for Q2 slashed by $5bn Android antitrust fine SaaS23 Jul 2018 | 23
Facebook tells users to report crappy customer service from advertisers Threatens to ban ads from businesses with low marks Personal Tech12 Jun 2018 | 19