There’s been a lot of noise recently around the use of personal data in adtech (advertising tech) including cases like the Google £44m fine from a few weeks ago, and not forgetting of course the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal, so it’s probably no surprise that the ICO is launching a “fact-finding forum” where they’ll be inviting along representatives from the adtech industry to explore their concerns (or “themes” as the ICO put it).
There continues to be a lot of questions from privacy advocacy groups about how the big adtech firms are manipulating us and our personal data in a post-GDPR world. Whether this “fact-finding” by the ICO is in lieu of some of these complaints or anticipation of them is difficult to know, but the “themes” the ICO have highlighted as wanting to discuss at the forum are:
- Transparency and personal data
- The lawful basis for processing (as there are mixed views as to what lawful basis applies and when with adtech)
- Security (particularly with the onwards transfer/sharing of personal data needed for adtech to function)
More details about the initiative can be found in this ICO blog.
Whatever the reason for the forum, we can expect guidance and information coming from the ICO in the months to come addressing these concerns and probably much more, so watch this space.
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