All those headlines about multi-million privacy fines for Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft imply they should have an impact, but to companies whose annual revenues far exceed many countries’ GDPs, they’re not much. Even worse, Big Tech isn’t obligated to pay on time – unlike what’s expected from their own customers – us.
The province of Ontario announced fines for healthcare providers who violate its Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA). Individuals could be fined up to $50,000, and organizations could pay a maximum of $500,000 for violations. This will be enforced against entities that look to contravene the law, but not in cases of breach or when errors are unintentional.
A report from 404 media found that between November 2023-January 2024, Telus paid Canadian parents $50 for rights to videos of their children. Telus plans to use the kid videos to train facial recognition for age verification. In explanation (and defense of the project), Telus and Google respectively said the videos will be used to “improve authentication, “offer more secure tools for end users;” and make Google technology “more transparent and accountable.” Wonder if any Google or Telus family kids participated?
In partnership with attention metrics provider Adelaide, The Trade Desk is now offering high attention inventory to advertisers. Attention — often based on reactions of opt-in panels to ads — is now competing with viewability as a valued attribute, and is being used to complement contextual metrics. Attention has been used in the past to test ads once they have been published; now it’s entering the pre-bid space.