Dec 22, 20192019 Year ReviewI had quite a year. In 2017, I decided to do something bureaucratic but consequential. In 2018, it mattered. In 2019, my story was told to millions. Legally, the year began with Cambridge Analytica pleading guilty to the criminal offense of ignoring an official order to give me back all…Data Rights15 min readData Rights15 min read
Oct 1, 2017Hacking the VotersWhy a British company has America’s voter data and how British law can help us get it back — How did Cambridge Analytica get our data? Who did they get it from? How did they process it? Who were the recipients of our data? Can we opt-out? Can they justify lawful compliance under UK Data Protection law? 🏛 Donate to the CrowdJustice campaign right now and help fund the…Politics19 min readPolitics19 min read
May 4, 2017Confronting a Nightmare for DemocracyPersonal Data, Personalized Media and Weaponized Propaganda — by Justin Hendrix and David Carroll In the aftermath of the 2016 Brexit referendum and US presidential election, much has been written about how personal data was used to target voters with advertisements and other messages over social media. We’ve since learned that actors both foreign and domestic employed information…Privacy7 min readPrivacy7 min read
May 3, 2017Chumbox Quality QuotientA New Consumer Sentiment Index for Bottom-feeders? — An industry insider, who would prefer to remain anonymous, ran a paid Google Survey and donated it to me for open research. It tested responses to so-called chumbox ads, those grids of sponsored links that bait what industry often calls sourced traffic. This pilot survey tested how people feel about…Advertising5 min readAdvertising5 min read
Jan 9, 201710 Terrible Things About AdtechAutomated Arbitrage Algorithms Conditioned You to This Sensational Clickbait Headline — Anyone familiar with my research and commentary knows I’m no fan of adtech, the hidden layer of behavioral ad targeting arbitrage that monetizes attention by the proxy of impression-based economies of scale. The perverse incentives that ensue from this hidden code incentivizes unregulated marketing surveillance over the populace to glut…Advertising7 min readAdvertising7 min read
Sep 15, 2016The Year Adblocking TippedA look back and a look ahead — The adblocking story broke in September of 2015, with the release of iOS 9. It prompted intense introspection within the overlapping industries of publishing, adtech, and agencies. Initially, blocker adoption was explained by “slow” and “annoying” ads. Many asked why not just make better ads. The underlying “cookie-sync” technology tended…Advertising4 min readAdvertising4 min read
Aug 9, 2016HEIST is a big DEALNewly Discovered Exploit Should Trigger a Moratorium on Blocking Adblockers and a Retooling of AdChoices — At this year’s BLACK HAT conference in Las Vegas, Belgian researchers Mathy Vanhoef and Tom Van Goethem demonstrated a newly discovered technique where JavaScript loaded by a third-party is able to circumvent the encryption of HTTPS and capture data from the page its loaded on. We’re now living in a…Advertising5 min readAdvertising5 min read
Jul 2, 2016Duopoly by Shifty Ad PrivacyA massive role reversal is in progress. — In case you haven’t noticed, Google and Facebook substantially altered and greatly expanded their grip on our web browsing data to supply their behavioral advertising machines already built upon our personal communications. These recent changes are reflected in this duopoly’s surging control of the ad spend market (90% of growth…Advertising8 min readAdvertising8 min read
Jun 6, 2016Facebook’s AdgateThe thing is…I’m still not wrong. — It started here. Awkward Conversation With Facebook What Happened When I Caught Them Defaulting Us Back Into Behavorial Ad Tracking and Targetingmedium.com The thing is, I’m the only voice in this conversation who doesn’t have an incentive to slant it. Even journalists with tremendous integrity — they’ll say that I’m at least somewhat wrong on this. They have to sow some doubt. That’s their move here. …Privacy8 min readPrivacy8 min read
Jun 2, 2016Awkward Conversation With FacebookWhat Happened When I Caught Them Defaulting Us Back Into Behavorial Ad Tracking and Targeting — I discovered that Facebook had opted me back into behavioral (interest-based) advertising despite the fact that I had already taken the time and care to opt-out of as many ad settings as offered by the company. …Advertising5 min readAdvertising5 min read
