{"id":71338,"date":"2024-01-12T16:15:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-12T21:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=71338"},"modified":"2024-01-12T16:15:00","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T21:15:00","slug":"data-brokers-know-everything-about-you-what-ftc-case-against-ad-tech-giant-kochava-reveals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/data-brokers-know-everything-about-you-what-ftc-case-against-ad-tech-giant-kochava-reveals\/","title":{"rendered":"Data brokers know everything about you \u2013 what FTC case against ad tech giant Kochava reveals"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Kochava<\/a>, the self-proclaimed industry leader in mobile app data analytics, is locked in a legal battle with the Federal Trade Commission in a case that could lead to big changes in the global data marketplace and in Congress\u2019 approach to artificial intelligence and data privacy.<\/p>\n

The stakes are high because Kochava\u2019s secretive data acquisition and AI-aided analytics practices are\u00a0commonplace in the global location data market<\/a>. In addition to numerous lesser-known data brokers, the mobile data market includes larger players like\u00a0Foursquare<\/a>\u00a0and data market exchanges like Amazon\u2019s\u00a0AWS Data Exchange<\/a>. The FTC\u2019s\u00a0recently unsealed amended complaint<\/a>\u00a0against Kochava makes clear that there\u2019s truth to what\u00a0Kochava advertises<\/a>: it can provide data for \u201cAny Channel, Any Device, Any Audience,\u201d and buyers can \u201cMeasure Everything with Kochava.\u201d<\/p>\n

Separately, the FTC is touting a settlement it just reached with data broker\u00a0Outlogic<\/a>, in what it calls the \u201cfirst-ever ban on the use and sale of sensitive location data<\/a>.\u201d Outlogic has to destroy the location data it has and is barred from collecting or using such information to determine who comes and goes from sensitive locations, like health care centers, homeless and domestic abuse shelters, and religious places.<\/p>\n

According to the FTC<\/a>\u00a0and proposed class-action lawsuits against Kochava on behalf of\u00a0adults<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0children<\/a>, the company secretly collects, without notice or consent, and otherwise obtains vast amounts of consumer location and personal data. It then analyzes that data using AI, which allows it to predict and influence consumer behavior in an impressively varied and alarmingly invasive number of ways, and serves it up for sale.<\/p>\n

Kochava has\u00a0denied the FTC\u2019s allegations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The FTC says Kochava sells a \u201c360-degree perspective<\/a>\u201d on individuals and advertises it can \u201cconnect precise geolocation data<\/a>\u00a0with email, demographics, devices, households, and channels.\u201d In other words, Kochava takes location data, aggregates it with other data and links it to consumer identities. The data it sells reveals precise information about a person, such as\u00a0visits to<\/a>\u00a0hospitals, \u201creproductive health clinics, places of worship, homeless and domestic violence shelters, and addiction recovery facilities.\u201d Moreover, by selling such detailed data about people, the FTC says \u201cKochava is\u00a0enabling others to identify individuals<\/a>\u00a0and exposing them to threats of stigma, stalking, discrimination, job loss, and even physical violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a\u00a0lawyer and law professor<\/a>\u00a0practicing, teaching and researching about AI, data privacy and evidence. These complaints underscore for me that U.S. law has not kept pace with\u00a0regulation of commercially available data<\/a>\u00a0or governance of AI.<\/p>\n

Most\u00a0data privacy regulations in the U.S. were conceived in the pre-generative AI era<\/a>, and there is no overarching federal law that addresses AI-driven data processing. There are\u00a0Congressional efforts<\/a>\u00a0to regulate the use of AI in decision making, like hiring and sentencing. There are also efforts to\u00a0provide public transparency around AI\u2019s use<\/a>. But Congress has yet to pass legislation.
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