Wolfie Christl Profile picture
Jan 31, 2022 8 tweets 4 min read Read on X
We observed that a Sky Bet gambling site transmitted extensive personal data on gambling activities to FB, Google, Microsoft, Adobe and to the TransUnion subsidiaries Signal and Iovation.

When asked about it under the GDPR, they mostly failed to disclose what data they process.
For example, when a user deposited cash at Sky Bet, the website immediately informed FB, Google, Microsoft, Adobe, MediaMath and Signal (TransUnion) about the exact amount deposited.

Several third-party data companies including Google and FB received data on almost every click.
In total, we observed 2,154 data transmissions to 44 third-party companies during only 37 visits to Sky Bet gambling sites.

The TransUnion subsidiary Signal created an extensive digital profile about a person who was a heavy Sky Bet user and lost a lot.
The gambling industry has long been exploiting data on players - the games played, times, frequencies, amounts spent, won and lost - to influence their behavior, get them to spend more, make them return more often, and maximize profit.

A brief history:
We analyzed 186 Signal profile attributes including customer value scores, promo influence scores or predictions about how much more a player might be able to spend.

Did they use those to influence players or make decisions? We still don't know.

See p37: cdn.sanity.io/files/btrsclf0… ImageImage
Did FB, Google or Microsoft use the data we observed them to receive to profile or target gamblers? Did Sky Bet or others make use of the data sent to those companies in any way?

We don't know.

Without technical testing, we wouldn't even know that they received personal data.
These are some of the results of a massive investigation into data flows in online gambling. I worked on it together with @RaviNa1k's data rights agency AWO, commissioned by @cleanupgambling.

Here's the full report, an exec summary and a technical report:
crackedlabs.org/en/gambling-da…
@RaviNa1k @cleanupgambling Methodology:

1) We analyzed how companies responded to GDPR access requests sent by a decade-long Sky Bet user
2) We analyzed how Sky Bet processes data in the browser when another person uses it
3) We analyzed how companies responded to access requests sent by the second person

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More from @WolfieChristl

Feb 29
Some more findings from our investigation of LiveRamp's ID graph system (), which maintains identity records about entire populations in many countries, including name, address, email and phone, and aims to link these records with all kinds of digital IDs:crackedlabs.org/en/identity-su…
Identity data might seem boring, but if a company knows all kinds of identifying info about everyone, from home address to email to device IDs, it is in a powerful position to recognize persons and link profile data scattered across many databases, and this is what LiveRamp does.
LiveRamp aims to provide clients with the ability to recognize a person who left some digital trace in one context as the same person who later left some trace elsewhere.

It has built a sophisticated system to do this, no matter how comprehensive it can recognize the person.
Read 12 tweets
Nov 14, 2023
As part of our new report on RTB as a security threat and previously unreported, we reveal 'Patternz', a private mass surveillance system that harvests digital advertising data on behalf of 'national security agencies'.

5 billion user profiles, data from 87 adtech firms. Thread: Image
'Patternz' in the report by @johnnyryan and me published today:


Patternz is operated by a company based in Israel and/or Singapore. I came across it some time ago, received internal docs. Two docs are available online.

Some more details in this thread. iccl.ie/wp-content/upl…
Image
Here's how Patternz can be used to track and profile individuals, their location history, home address, interests, information about 'people nearby', 'co-workers' and even 'family members', according to information available online:

isasecurity.org/patternz
web.archive.org/web/2021062210…
Image
Read 30 tweets
Nov 6, 2023
, a 'social risk intelligence platform' that provides digital profiles about named individuals regarding financial strain, food insecurity, housing instability etc for healthcare purposes.

Incredibly intrusive, horrifying that this can exist in the US. sociallydetermined.com
Image
"It calculates risk scores for each risk domain for each person", according to the promotional video, and offers "clarity and granularity for the entire US".

Not redlining, though. They color it green. Image
Making decisions based on these metrics about individuals and groups seems to be highly questionable and irresponsible bs.

Safegraph, a shady location data firm, is among the data providers:
safegraph.com/customers/soci…
Read 6 tweets
Oct 16, 2023
Bazze, a US data broker that purchases smartphone location data from mobile apps and advertising firms, and sells to the US Dept of Defense, according to the WSJ (), openly promotes a commercial location mass surveillance system for 'government customers'. wsj.com/tech/cybersecu…
Image
I extracted information about mobile location data they claim to sell per country from their website:


Japan: 920m records, 5.5m devices
Brazil: 370m records, 6.3m devices
Australia: 280m records, 1.7m devices

...and data on people in 200 other countries. bazze.io/cdi
Image
explains that it does not 'collect or sell data from individuals within the United States, Canada, and European Economic Area countries'.

So, global commercial location data except US/Canada/Europe, for national security (and finance, as a side business). bazze.io

Image
Image
Read 19 tweets
Oct 13, 2023
New WSJ report found that 'Near', a consumer data broker based in India, Singapore and the US with an office in France, obtained massive location data via digital advertising firms like OpenX, Smaato and AdColony and sold it to US defense/intel agencies:
wsj.com/tech/cybersecu…
Image
Near's general counsel and chief privacy officer:

The US govt "gets our illegal EU data twice per day", a "massive illegal data dump".

"We sell geolocation data for which we do not have consent to do so", "we sell data outside the EU for which we do not have consent to do so" Image
If this isn't reason for EU data protection authorities to take urgent action than I don't know what is.
Read 18 tweets
Sep 22, 2023
Yesterday, I published a case study that examines enterprise software for process mining, workflow automation and algorithmic management.

I identified a list of mechanisms that involve personal data processing and can affect workers individually (right) or collectively (center). Image
I guess rarely anyone has ever examined this kind of software at such a level of detail, from a worker perspective.

The case study explores how employers can exploit worker data based on enterprise software docs. The chart is an excerpt from section 7:
crackedlabs.org/en/data-work/p…
The case study is largely based on an analysis of enterprise software docs from a single vendor and its partners, which has its limitations. It's the third in a series of case studies, which are part of a larger project that aims to map how employers use personal data on workers.
Read 10 tweets

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