Thread by @natashanyt

Grindr is transmitting users' unique IDs, app name and precise locations to numerous ad tech companies, essentially broadcasting their sexual orientation to the entire consumer surveillance ecosystem.
story w/@aaronkrolik
nytimes.com/2020/01/13/bus…

@AaronKrolik Meanwhile, Tinder is transmitting its users' gender to companies — along with the gender they are seeking are seeking to date/hookup with.
Read more in a new report today from Norwegian consumer group @Forbrukerradet @finnmyrstad
forbrukerradet.no/undersokelse/n…

@AaronKrolik @Forbrukerradet @finnmyrstad .@Forbrukerradet also found that OkCupid was sending users' ethnicity and answers to personal profile questions -- What is your favorite cuddling position? Have you use psychedelic drugs? -- to a marketing company:

@AaronKrolik @Forbrukerradet @finnmyrstad As .@cooperq @eff put it:
"The problem is that OkCupid is treating all of this data as equally benign, when it certainly isn’t. Questions about religion. Questions about drug use. That’s information that could be used to hurt people.”

@AaronKrolik @Forbrukerradet @finnmyrstad @cooperq @EFF OkCupid's new data disclosure policy, required under the new California consumer privacy law, says it may share psychological inferences drawn from users' profiles and other data with vendors and business partners.

@AaronKrolik @Forbrukerradet @finnmyrstad @cooperq @EFF Under the Calif privacy law, firms that trade such user data for money or other compensation, like targeted ads, must post a Do Not Sell My Data option, allowing people to stop the sale of their data.
OkCupid says it doesn't 'sell" user data -- and doesn't have to offer opt-outs

@AaronKrolik @Forbrukerradet @finnmyrstad @cooperq @EFF But if you go to OkCupid.com and look for a link that says "Show Vendors" (because "vendor" from the word "vend' doesn't mean "selling"), you'll find a list of more than 300 entities with which OkCupid may share users' personal data.
And there OkC offers opt-outs

@AaronKrolik @Forbrukerradet @finnmyrstad @cooperq @EFF Then there is Grindr, which says that users who click "agree" on its privacy/cookie policies are actively "directing us to disclose" their personal details.
Therefore, Grindr says, the sharing of user data for the company's benefit does not constitute selling.

@AaronKrolik @Forbrukerradet @finnmyrstad @cooperq @EFF The dating apps' sharing of user data raises questions abt compliance w/ the new Calif privacy law.
They also raise Qs about GDPR which prohibits the processing of sensitive data like ethnicity, sexual orientation or sexual life without a person's explicit consent.

@AaronKrolik @Forbrukerradet @finnmyrstad @cooperq @EFF Today, @Forbrukerradet and @maxschrems filed complaints against Grindr and ad tech firms for possible violations of G.D.P.R.;
fil.forbrukerradet.no/wp-content/upl…

@AaronKrolik @Forbrukerradet @finnmyrstad @cooperq @EFF @maxschrems important CORRECTION to tweet #1: I meant my colleague and collaborator @Aaron_Krolik