“ Court Action “ or “ New Regulatory Approach “ ?

Context :

Australia’s consumer watchdog accuses Google of privacy breaches    /  27 July 2020

Highlights :

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) action in the Federal Court is the latest litigation Google has faced around the world over allegations of privacy breaches.

The commission alleges that the California-based company misled millions of Australians to obtain their consent and expand the scope of personal information that Google collects about users’ internet activity to target advertising.

The allegations arise from Google’s move in 2016 to start combining,

Ø   users’ personal information in their Google accounts with

Ø  information from the same users’ activity on non-Google sites

that used Google technology,...

Ø  The Competition and Markets Authority have taken aim at the U.S. tech giants in a report that recommends the British government adopt a new regulatory approach to governing big digital platforms making money from online ads.

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Why are governments targeting Google ( alone ? ) for privacy breaches , when thousands of other websites are guilty of  the same crime ?

Answer is simple :

Ø  Among all the other websites, Google is the biggest and richest of these violators ( meaning, Google makes far more money from its “ Targeted Online Advt “ business, using USER’s PERSONAL DATA , than any other website )

Ø  It has the widest reach , in most countries ( except China )

Ø  It has largest number of users worldwide

Ø  It “ powers “ thousands of mobile apps – in return, gathering personal data of millions of people who use these apps

Ø  It enables internet-users to avoid submitting their PERSONAL DATA again and again, to thousands of websites by just clicking, “ Log me in with Google “- a great convenience ( no need to remember thousands of passwords )

Ø  Its Android Operating System powers ( perhaps ) 70 % of mobile phones worldwide

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The right question to be asked by Regulators / Consumer Protection Bodies around the world, is NOT

Ø  While registering on Google, did users “ clearly / explicitly understand “ what all Personal Data about themselves, are they granting permission to Google to collect for those targeted advertisements AND for selling ( may be, bartering ) to other businesses ?

Right questions to be asked (of ourselves ), should be :

Ø  How soon can we put in place a “ NEW REGULATORY APPROACH to governing big digital platforms making money from online ads “ ?

Ø  How can such a NEW REGULATORY APPROACH ensure :

#  No Indian User ever need to REGISTER on any such website

#  All Indian Users to provide their PERSONAL DATA ( by registering ) on only ONE

    government owned / controlled website ( say, ww.IndiaDataCustodian.gov.in “)

#  All other websites to enable their use to Indians by clicking ,

     Log me in with  ww.IndiaDataCustodian.gov.in

#  All other websites can “ buy “ from ww.IndiaDataCustodian.gov.in , aggregated /

    anonymized PERSONAL DATA of 500 million users ( target demographic data )

#  Sale-proceeds to be distributed among Indian Citizen whose data got “ sold “ , in

     each such online PURCHASE TRANSACTION of Personal Data by any BUYER ( no

     revelation of Name / Contact Information of any user – only anonymized )

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I have elaborated on the mechanism of such a New Regulatory Approach in my following email to the Cabinet Ministers :

SARAL   …………………………………………………………………………………………[  10  Feb  2019  ]

As to WHAT personal data ( of users ) can be MONETIZED through such a New Regulatory Approach, consider the following LEVELS , described in my mail :

Only Answer : a Statutory Warning  ……………………………………………….[ 10 Nov 2018 ]

 #    Data   Level   1  ………………  Personal Data   ✔

#     Data   Level   2  ………………  Family  Data     ✔

#     Data   Level   3   ………………  Contact Info     ✔

#     Data   Level   4  ………………   Social Media Data ( websites-portals-apps etc ) ✔

#     Data   Level   5  ……………….  Cultural Exposure Data  ✔

#     Data   Level   6  ……………….  Education  Qualifications Data  ✔

#     Data   Level   7  ……………….  Languages Knowledge  Data  ✔

#     Data   Level   8  ……………….  Job  Experience  Data  ✔

#     Data   Level   9  ………………   Wealth – Income Data [ from Tax Returns ]  ✔

#     Data   Level  10  ………………. Medical History Data   ✔

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Related Explanatory E-Mails sent in past :

Digital Dividend from Demographic Data ………………………………………….[ 14 Feb 2019 ]

Privacy For Sale ………………………………………………………………………………….[ 26 Aug 2017 ]

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CAUTION :

From following news-report, it would appear that, before long, Google may manage to collect all of your Personal Data, WITHOUT requiring you to REGISTER on its website and / or asking your permission ( even, indirect ! )

That lends urgency to implement my suggestion as soon as we can

Google Mulls creating Smart Tattoos to turn Skin into Touchpads 

Extract :  

Search engine giant Google is reportedly working on "smart tattoos" that which will be embedded with sensors and turn the human body into touchpads.

The idea is part of a wearable project from Google Research called "SkinMarks".

Google has provided funding to a group of researchers from Germany's Saarland University to develop the technology.

" This paper presents SkinMarks, an enabling technology for interaction on body landmarks.

SkinMarks are highly conformal interactive tattoos, which enable precisely localised input and output on five types of body landmarks", a white paper recently published by Saarland University noted.

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With regards,

Hemen Parekh  /  hcp@RecruitGuru.com  /  28  July  2020