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Ireland investigates Google adtech GDPR breach
Ireland's Data Protection Commission is investigating Google's DoubleClick ad platform, which runs on an estimated 8.4 million websites worldwide and, it's claimed, leaks personal data by design (The Register).
The GDPR breach complaint was made by Dr Johnny Ryan of Brave Software. He says that Google's ad platform returns user data including location, mobile network, device identifiers, Google ID and more to third-party advertisers without explicit permission as part of the real-time bidding process that ultimately decides which ads you're shown.
Illegal CFC output traced to two Chinese provinces
New atmospheric observations have tracked down emissions of highly illegal, ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbon Trichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11) to China's Shandong and Hebei provinces (Science). The findings confirm those of an investigation last year, which concluded that rogue operators were engaged new production and use of CFCs, and will help China's government continue to enforce its stringent ban on the chemicals.
ARM cuts off Huawei to comply with US trade ban
UK based CPU designer ARM, owned by Japanese firm Softbank, has ordered staff to end "all active contracts, support entitlements, and any pending engagements” with Huawei (BBC News). A leaked internal memo indicates that this is because ARM's processor designs – used across Huawei's smartphone range – incorporate “US origin technology” affected by the US government's trade ban on the Chinese tech firm.
TfL is going to track all London Underground users using Wi-Fi
In the autumn of 2016, Transport for London began a month-long trial at 54 stations, using Wi-Fi signals from phones and other devices to harvest depersonalised data about where, when and how people were using the tube (WIRED). On July 8, it's coming to the entire network. The data harvested could lead directly to improvements in how the tube runs and operates, by giving the transport body a much more detailed insight into customer behaviour than has previously been available.
Amazon is gamifying warehouse work
Amazon is currently testing gamification in its US warehouses, with workers playing solo or competitive games like Dragon Duel, with points earned and progress made by completing job tasks quickly (Gizmodo). Amazon executives say that the aim is to “take something that can be pretty boring and make it more interesting and hopefully fun”, but the games have been criticised for pitting staff against one another.
Minecraft's future is augmented reality
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This article was originally published by WIRED UK
