A wired examination In the inner operation of Google’s advertising ecosystem, a wealth of sensitive information about Americans is openly served to some of the world’s largest brands, despite the company’s own rules against it. Experts believe that this information, combined with other data, can be used to identify and target specific individuals.
Display & Video 360 (DV360), one of the dominant marketing platforms offered by the search giant, offers companies worldwide the option of targeting devices in the United States based on a list of internet users who are believed to suffer from chronic diseases and financial distress, including categories of personal data.
Other lists of US users accessible to a price across the platform leave serious problems with national security, experts say, because they reveal that data brokers who are millions of mobile devices transported by government workers are from US judges and military service members to staff and employees of the Capitol Hill Executive Agency.
An internal spreadsheet obtained from a US Dat broker was first revised by Wired, and shows the DV360 platform that is currently hundreds, if not thousands of limited or otherwise sensitive “hearing segments”, each containing a large part of the data indicating countless mobile devices and online profiles of people in the US. The segments are not generated by Google, but by DV360 customers who upload it to the system, where others can use it to target ads from specific audiences.
The data first obtained by the Irish Civil Liberties Council (ICCL), the oldest independent human rights body of Ireland – reflects segments used on hundreds of millions of devices based solely on health conditions, from chronic pain and menopause to, among other things, fibromialgia, psoriasis, high cholesterol and hypertensis.
“As with other platforms on the side of demand, advertisers can upload hearing lists to display and video 360, either based on their own first-party data or of segment providers,” said Erica Walsh, a Google spokeswoman. “Our policy does not allow hearing segments to be used based on sensitive information such as employment, health conditions, financial status, etc.”
Despite this, many segments contained in the data are clearly aimed at households and businesses based only on data, which indicate that they experience financial hardship-which, for example, tackle to help advertisers identify people who are doing bankruptcy or tax through long-term debt.
Google spokesman Allison Bodack tells Wired that when the company detects “non-compliant hearing segments, we will act.” Asked to explain why Google did not detect segments with descriptions, such as “individuals who probably have a cardiovascular condition”, or “parents of children who probably have a breathing illness, such as asthma,” Bodack did not answer.
Segments accessible via DV360 that target Americans with asthma contain at least hundreds of millions of mobile IDs – among them, a list titled ‘People who have asthma.’ Hundreds of millions were found on lists for no other reason than it is believed to have diabetes. A large number of devices and user profiles are distributed over lists that determine target users that are determined, probably specific medications, including some controlled substances, such as Ambien. One list connects more than 140 million mobile IDs to opioid use, suggesting that users should have relief from a common “opioid-induced” side effect.