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Google taken to court by ACCC for 'misleading consumers on targeted ads':
The competition watchdog has launched Federal Court proceedings against Google alleging the tech giant misled Australian consumers about how their personal data was collected and used to improve its advertising service.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced on Monday it had commenced proceedings claiming Google failed to properly inform consumers and did not get their explicit informed consent to expand the scope of personal information that it could collect and combine a user's activity on non-Google sites with the information on their Google accounts.
Google disputes the allegations and said it intends to defend its position.
[...] ACCC chair Rod Sims said the watchdog was taking legal action because it considered Google misled Australian consumers about what it planned to do with large amounts of their personal information, including internet activity on websites not connected to Google.
[...] A spokesperson for Google said the tech giant updated its ad systems and associated user controls in June 2016 to match the way people use Google products across many different devices.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Monday July 27 2020, @05:47PM (2 children)
Tracking should always be illegal, without EXPLICIT permission. Explicit permission can't be given, unless detailed explanations are offered. Any dispute in court should start with a presumption that tracking was improper to start with.
Seriously, no advertising company needs detailed information on any potential customer.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Monday July 27 2020, @07:08PM (1 child)
If Google were to offer a free public DNS server at 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4, they would be able to keep track of all DNS requests, and which IPs those requests came from. It might even be possible from how the packets are formed, to detect other features of the requesting system, such as DNS software, potentially inferring which OS, and processor architecture.
Should a signed agreement be required of anyone who might use Google's free public DNS?
From the requesting IP address, you probably know a geographic location, which ISP, probably whether it is residential. That IP can be matched up with all other contacts with Google to correlate those DNS requests with profiles of family members to see who might have requested that DNS lookup. Different family members hiding behind a NAT might use different OSes, which might be detectable based on features of the request packet(s).
There is also a public DNS called Quad9 which I have not checked out to see if it can learn as much about me as Google can.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Monday July 27 2020, @07:25PM
Two part answer.
1. It is not NECESSARY to record any data, at all, to act as a DNS server. Request comes in, response is sent out, end of transaction, period. If you are advertising a "free" DNS server, that is where it ends.
2. We know that Google and most other DNS servers are keeping logs. Some of that is alright stuff. Keep stuff totally anonymous, and all is cool. It's the TRACKING that is wrong. There is no justifiable reason for Google to use that data to track me to wanker.com or to subversivestuff.com or to crazyreligion.net or to flatearther.org. It's the TRACKING that should make Google and all other online services liable for damages.
If you are looking for a more secure DNS service, you might start with this article:
https://securitytrails.com/blog/dns-servers-privacy-security [securitytrails.com]