Data professionals polled by Immuta were even more concerned about privacy and security rules: 84% said they expected these would limit access to data in the next 24 months.  This makes a bad situation worse, since 55% say data is often stale today before it reaches end users.   A bit of caution if you expect self-service tools to ease the problem: 71% of data professionals and 78% of business leaders think data consumers are using freemium cloud tools but just 63% of the consumers say they are.

The News Gods have been mostly on vacation this week, but they did share that casino and events operator Bally’s Corporation is buying Telescope Inc., which builds real-time engagement solutions for live and online events.  The deal will bolster Bally’s interactive brands.  It’s an example of brands buying technology companies instead of just using their products.

Procrastinators of the world can throw a party whenever they get around to it: Google has once more pushed back complete third-party cookie deprecation.  The new target is “early next year.” Reasons for the delay include concerns expressed by U.K. data regulator Information Commissioner’s Office, an ongoing inquiry by the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority, and widespread discontent in the advertising ecosystem.