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EU Citizens Being Tracked on Sensitive Government Sites (ft.com)

Posted by msmash on from the how-about-that dept.

EU governments are allowing more than 100 advertising companies, including Google and Facebook, to surreptitiously track citizens across sensitive public sector websites, in apparent violation of their own EU data protection rules, a study has found. From a report: Danish browser-analysis company Cookiebot found ad trackers -- which log users' locations, devices and browsing behaviours for advertisers -- on the official government websites of 25 EU member states [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source]. The French government had the highest number of ad trackers on its site, with 52 different companies tracking users' behaviour. Google, YouTube and DoubleClick, Google's advertising platform, accounted for three of the top five tracking domains on 22 of the main government websites. Researchers also studied the websites for EU public health services, finding that people seeking health advice on sensitive topics such as abortion, HIV and mental illness were met with commercial ad trackers on more than half of the sites analysed.

25 of 58 comments (clear)

  1. Taking a page out of the Russian playbook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It seems that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

  2. Hypocrites as usual. by Quakeulf · · Score: 1, Troll

    One standard for them, one for us, yet the EU is somehow the perfect government system for Europe. Who really benefits from this? What was it like traveling and working and supplying and demanding in Europe in the 1800s? 1700s? 1600s? Has it become better, or worse?

    1. Re:Hypocrites as usual. by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 2

      Few people think the EU is the perfect government, though most politicians want to effect change from within. Personally I think things have gone too far for that to be a viable option, but I don't see how we can tear things doen and rebuild it either. EU democracy and government worries me a fair bit. But the EU (and the EEG before it, and the ECSC before that) have done quite a bit for international commerce. For instance: many companies grumbled at having to get their stuff certified against a bunch of new rules before being allowed to sell it in their own country... until they learned that they only had to certify against those rules in order to sell anywhere in the EU, and that they could do so easily without having to deal with customs and tariffs.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    2. Re:Hypocrites as usual. by tsa · · Score: 2

      Much better. No hassle with borders, free roaming on the GSM net, many things are standardized in all of the EU which is handy for manufacturers, etc. And we haven't had a war in more than 70 years, which is long for Europe. Of course the EU is not a perfect government system and there is a lot to improve but it certainly has brought its inhabitants a lot of economic development and safety. Just look at the whole Brexit procedure to get an idea of life before the EU.

      --

      -- Cheers!

    3. Re:Hypocrites as usual. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Informative

      This isn't the EU, it's individual member states' governments not complying with EU data protection rules.

      The EU is the one telling these governments to stop allowing companies to track citizens using their web sites. The EU is making things better.

      It's incredible how even when the EU is doing the right thing it gets blamed somehow. Just think about how wrong your view of the EU is that you leapt to this conclusion without apparently even reading the summary, which clearly states that it is member states' web sites at issue.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    4. Re:Hypocrites as usual. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Hah, not a war in 70 years. We helped you with the bombing of Libya (yes, that was your war; you asked us for help). That's nice that your counties have given up sovereignty to unelected politicians in Brussels. You have democratic "representation" but they have no power; the real power in Brussels is unelected. So, as nations go, all you retain is passports; you can't even write your own tax laws. So, not really different than US states, except, of course, that the last war we had, by your definition, ended in 1865, and we directly elect our legislators in DC, unlike you.

    5. Re:Hypocrites as usual. by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

      What's missing from the EU is a clear constitution. The EU does not have one, in the form of a concise document outlining the relations between the nations and the union, between the union and its citizens, and the limits of the union's mandate. What we have now is a pile of deliberately* obfuscated set of legalese, a set of treaties rather than a real constitution. The US one wouldn't have been a bad example for us, actually.

      *) Following the referendums rejecting the previous document.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    6. Re:Hypocrites as usual. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      The EU has done immense good for EU citizens. Many of the rights we enjoy at work come from the EU and it's unlikely our national governments would have introduced them without the EU wide harmonization and the economic benefits that come from membership as an incentive.

      Look at things like GDPR. Massively pro-citizen, it forces corporations to treat your data properly. We don't have the massive problems they have in the US with things like robocalls or companies selling personal data to the lowest bidder, because the EU made it illegal.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    7. Re:Hypocrites as usual. by lgw · · Score: 1

      EU democracy and government worries me a fair bit. But the EU (and the EEG before it, and the ECSC before that) have done quite a bit for international commerce.

      That's the heart of it. What's valuable is a uniform set of trade treaties. Good luck getting that without a central government ever-growing in power. The US didn't even make it 100 years before "the United States are" became "the United States is" (though perhaps that joke is lost on our British brethren).

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    8. Re:Hypocrites as usual. by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

      This isn't the EU, it's individual member states' governments not complying with EU data protection rules.

      To be fair, Cookiebot did not do any testing on europa.eu or other official EU sites for this report. That we lack evidence of tracking (because no testing was done) does not mean that those sites lack tracking. But because I was curious, I had Cookiebot fire off a compliance test on europa.eu while I quickly perused it to see if I could find anything that loaded third-party resources from the usual bad actors. Sure enough, it didn't take me long to land on a page that attempted to load images from Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other social networks. While their doing so may be in compliance with the GDPR, anyone here is likely aware of just how easily images can be used to track individuals.

      Right as I was typing the above up, the results of the compliance test hit my inbox. According to Cookiebot's e-mail, europa.eu is "Not compliant" with EU regulations due to its failing at "Prior consent on other than strictly necessary cookies (ePR)".

      I'm not arguing against anything else you're saying, other than the notion that it's only the member states who have non-compliant sites.

      Just think about how wrong your view of the EU is that you leapt to this conclusion without apparently even reading the summary, which clearly states that it is member states' web sites at issue.

      Again, to be fair, the Key Insights page in the report itself says "82% of official EU government websites are harbouring Google marketing trackers" right after saying "89% of official government websites of EU member states contain 3rd party ad tracking". Given the difference in language, it's easy to see how even someone reading the report could misinterpret the two phrases to indicate that the former includes EU sites. Again, it doesn't, but I can see how someone could easily misinterpret it that way.

    9. Re:Hypocrites as usual. by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1
      Not "niche issues", for instance the French rejected it precisely for the reason I stated previously. From that Wiki:

      The TCE made an effort to simplify jargon and reduce the number of EU legal instruments. However, it is a long document couched in technical terms, which proved unpopular when presented (for example) to French voters in their referendum on the TCE.

      The original TCE was already too complicated to be a constitution in the traditional sense. The new treaties made matters even worse.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    10. Re:Hypocrites as usual. by grep+-v+'.*'+* · · Score: 1

      We don't have the massive problems they have in the US

      Here in the US we don't have massive problems. Those bits all just slide around like a greased pig -- no problems whatsoever.

      It may be your data but it's our bits, and which do you think is more important?

      --
      If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
    11. Re: Hypocrites as usual. by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      And we haven't had a war in more than 70 years, which is long for Europe.

      Just ignore that whole Balkan region ... nothing to see there ...

    12. Re: Hypocrites as usual. by tsa · · Score: 1

      That wasn’t in the EU. It was in Europe though, and I still think it’s a big disgrace that Clinton was the first to try and do anything about it. It was a European question that should have been handled by the EU.

      --

      -- Cheers!

    13. Re:Hypocrites as usual. by Bert64 · · Score: 1

      In order to get to the page you cite, you've explicitly followed the "social networks" page link, which you'd expect to have information about social networks given the title. This is a bit different from having trackers on totally unrelated pages.

      --
      http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
    14. Re:Hypocrites as usual. by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

      In order to get to the page you cite, you've explicitly followed the "social networks" page link, which you'd expect to have information about social networks given the title.

      Information? Absolutely. Third-party content that can be used to track users being loaded? Not necessarily. Moreover, regardless of what you or I might expect, that doesn't necessarily mean that it would be allowed.

  3. Breaking News: US Citizens being tracked on pretty by triffid_98 · · Score: 1

    ...well, except for your cousin's archived geocities page. I think that one is totally safe.

  4. Re: Breaking News: US Citizens being tracked on pr by triffid_98 · · Score: 1

    Much all websites, if you were wondering

  5. Good advice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If stool becomes impacted or lodged in the rectum, mucus and fluid will leak out around the stool, leading to fecal incontinence. Call your health care provider if you have mucus or fluid leakage from the rectum.

  6. Bet they didn't provide cookie notices by xack · · Score: 1

    Also can Slashdot fix their "we value your privacy" notice so it dosen't pop up every few hours?

    1. Re: Bet they didn't provide cookie notices by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      Slashdot can't fix anything. Just try using the site on mobile.

  7. Not surprised ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    EU governments are allowing more than 100 advertising companies, including Google and Facebook, to surreptitiously track citizens across sensitive public sector websites, in apparent violation of their own EU data protection rules

    Honestly, at this point, the first time I hit a website (and often thereafter) the first thing I check for on a site is 3rd party shit which I block.

    Facebook is blocked everywhere, and any analytic and ad companies get added to the list.

    Hell, even the Financial Times article has 4 parasites linked, two of which I'd not blocked before.

    Fuck ad companies and trackers, they can suck my balls ... I don't consent to whatever non-existent privacy policy of third parties your site links to ... ad companies are parasites, and if you're not blocking them, you're being tracked by them.

    The entire security model of the fucking internet is broken ... we are expected to let every random asshole run scripts, set cookies, or load web-bugs. This is an insane security model, and I refuse to play the game.

    Third party shit will be ruthlessly blocked. If that means your site no longer works, I don't give a fuck.

    This is also why I refuse to use the internet on a mobile device, because I do not have the control over this stuff and then you're just running a wide open browser which lets anybody do anything.

    If you work for an ad/analytics company, you should understand you have forfeited all rights to privacy, because your fucking asshole of a business model is that we apparently have done so.

    I refuse to play this game.

  8. In semi-related news.... by 3seas · · Score: 2

    The NSA stopped spying on US citizens
    https://www.wired.com/2017/04/...
    However, https://www.aclu.org/blog/nati...

    And https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying

    Now who really thinks any government that spent a lot of taxpayer money to build spying capabilities on its taxpayers is going to stop it?

    And if you think that is bad, lets put it in perspective. AI weaponry.... What's ethics? to those who are addicted to think, "if we don't do it someone else will and put us at a disadvantage"

  9. This is why you block ads by default by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    The EU is using the data.
    Use a good VPN.
    Block ads on your computer to keep the EU tracking out.
    Reduced the ability of the EU to track your internet usage.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  10. Subject to GDPR, no? by misnohmer · · Score: 1

    I would expect those governments of the offending websites should be dealt with as per GDPR, therefore warned, fined, or however any other company violating GDPR is supposed be dealt with. Unless of course EU governments believe that their own laws don't apply to them. This should tell us. Wouldn't be the first government which believed they are above the law.