Johnny Ryan , director of policy at Brave, is said to have
Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2025 8:14 am
Google may be spying on its users through hidden web pages in order to leak their personal data to advertisers. This is according to the British newspaper Financial Times , which echoes the complaint made by the managers of the Brave browser , one of Google's rivals, and which has led the Irish authorities to investigate the well-known search engine and its possible fraudulent practices, which are far from the privacy regulations established by the European Union.
discovered this alleged practice by Google while investigating how the Mountain View company's advertising worked. Immersed in this analysis process, the expert realized that Google used secret web pages to exchange users' personal data and discovered how the company tagged them with an identifier , which companies would later use to target their advertising.
The page did not display any content, but it had a unique address that linked it to argentina phone number the user's browsing activity. Among the data that Google leaks is the user's location or activity on a specific website (time spent, for example). If this were proven, Google would have an advantage in offering more detailed and powerful segmentation to its customers.
“This practice is hidden in two ways: the most basic way is that Google creates a page that the user never sees, it’s blank, it has no content, but it allows third parties to spy on the user and the user is none the wiser. I had no idea this was happening. If I checked my browser log, I wouldn’t have had a clue either,” Ryan explains, according to the outlet.
The regulator is investigating whether Google uses sensitive data, such as the race, health and political leanings of its users, to target ads. In any case, this complaint adds to an unstoppable list of accusations against Google , which in most cases end in multi-million dollar fines.
discovered this alleged practice by Google while investigating how the Mountain View company's advertising worked. Immersed in this analysis process, the expert realized that Google used secret web pages to exchange users' personal data and discovered how the company tagged them with an identifier , which companies would later use to target their advertising.
The page did not display any content, but it had a unique address that linked it to argentina phone number the user's browsing activity. Among the data that Google leaks is the user's location or activity on a specific website (time spent, for example). If this were proven, Google would have an advantage in offering more detailed and powerful segmentation to its customers.
“This practice is hidden in two ways: the most basic way is that Google creates a page that the user never sees, it’s blank, it has no content, but it allows third parties to spy on the user and the user is none the wiser. I had no idea this was happening. If I checked my browser log, I wouldn’t have had a clue either,” Ryan explains, according to the outlet.
The regulator is investigating whether Google uses sensitive data, such as the race, health and political leanings of its users, to target ads. In any case, this complaint adds to an unstoppable list of accusations against Google , which in most cases end in multi-million dollar fines.