{"id":156999,"date":"2025-09-20T12:15:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T12:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/156999\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T12:15:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T12:15:06","slug":"data-protection-authorities-need-to-move-on-online-privacy-issue-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/156999\/","title":{"rendered":"Data protection authorities need to move on online privacy issue \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">There are few people who need to be told their online activity rarely stays private, even when making a concerted effort. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">We have long suspected our smartphones are listening to us, gleaning information from conversations that can then be used to serve up personalised ads in the apps we use. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">Still, the information uncovered in this week\u2019s Prime Time programme on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/rte\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/rte\">RT\u00c9<\/a> will have alarmed many. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">The investigation showed how easily accessible data could pinpoint the residential addresses of smartphone owners, including public figures, and potentially the movement of naval vessels. In the political climate, that should be very concerning for the powers that be. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Privacy campaigners have long opposed the type of data collection that underpins personalised advertising, urging data protection authorities to act. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/irish-council-for-civil-liberties\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/irish-council-for-civil-liberties\/\">Irish Council for Civil Liberties<\/a> has taken the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/data-protection-commission\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/data-protection-commission\/\">Data Protection Commission<\/a> (DPC) to court over the issue in the past, saying issues raised were not being taken into account in the DPC\u2019s own investigation. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">It is also taking a class action-style legal case against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/microsoft\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/microsoft\">Microsoft<\/a> related to the issue of real-time bidding (RTB), which allows companies to compete for online advertising slots based on personal data of its targets. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">There is no simple answer for consumers here. The truth is smart devices \u2013 from our phones and the apps we use to connected devices such as smart TVs \u2013 are capable of gathering a large amount of data and it is almost impossible to avoid. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The data broker involved in the Prime Time investigation told undercover reporters how the terms and conditions of installed apps would have granted permission for the sale of the location data. Who has the time or expertise to read the terms and conditions of every app they install?<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">This is where regulators need to intervene. While the DPC has said it is looking into the matter and is \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d by the revelations, this needs a strong response. If consumers are to feel confident their privacy is being protected, it needs to be backed up with solid action. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">Trust is hard won and easily broken, something the tech and advertising industries should have learned by now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are few people who need to be told their online activity rarely stays private, even when making&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[49,48,54104,82311,63,190,42160,61],"class_list":["post-156999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cantillon","tag-data-protection-commission","tag-microsoft","tag-mobile","tag-rte","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}