Telekom & Co: Warning about tracking via the Utiq advertising platform
Leading European network operators have developed mobile advertising technology. D64 criticizes massive data collection, profiling and a high risk of misuse.
(Image: Sashkin/Shutterstock.com)
The digital association D64, which is close to the SPD, has serious concerns about the online advertising platform Utiq (formerly TrustPid). The founders Deutsche Telekom, Orange, TelefĂłnica and Vodafone received the green light from the EU Commission to operate the ad tech company at the beginning of 2023. The leading European network operators want to offer media and advertising customers an alternative to the US advertising networks of Google and Meta that is compatible with EU data protection regulations. However, D64 is now criticizing Utiq for collecting and exploiting the data of potentially several hundred million customers of the major telecommunications providers. Most users of such online services are not even aware of the Big Brother-style surveillance that is possible.
Previous tracking methods such as third-party cookies are increasingly being blocked by common browsers - Google wants to eliminate them altogether. According to D64's analysis, Utiq will therefore track users and recognize their preferences via their smartphones and automatically auction advertising banners. In doing so, "IP addresses and mobile phone numbers" are used "to generate a pseudonymous identifier", the authors explain.
According to the paper, the starting point is the opening of a Utiq customer's website via cell phone, such as an online newspaper, where the consent of the person concerned is requested independently of the classic cookie banner. If the users agree, "they are tracked". On subsequent visits to the original website or other services that use Utiq, they could be recognized via a pseudonymous identifier in the form of a "network signal" and other IDs based on this.
Some plus points, but significantly more minus points
Utiq's current 64 German media partners include FAZ, SĂĽddeutsche Zeitung, Handelsblatt, Hamburger Morgenpost and newspapers from the Ippen Group such as Frankfurter Rundschau. They are using the solution to target visitors with personalized advertising. D64 welcomes the "contractually stipulated standardization of the design and content of the information displayed in the content banners" as well as the absence of dark patterns, which are used to trick users into giving their consent. There is also an easily accessible option to centrally object to all processing by Utiq in a Consent Hub for at least one year.
The authors consider it negative that a second consent banner next to the classic cookie buttons is likely to be perceived as annoying. This would not increase their willingness to "engage with the processing of their own data". Furthermore, it is possible and obvious that customers will combine Utiq's tracking service with other tracking technologies, thereby circumventing the pseudonymization and other data protection requirements. Ultimately, this would result in Utiq giving users less, rather than more, control over the use of their personal information.
Risk of the creation of comprehensive personal profiles
The AdTech network creates a comprehensive collection of the websites visited by users in the last 90 days, D64 describes major risks of abuse. This data collection is not only interesting for advertisers, but also for malicious actors such as cyber criminals and law enforcement agencies. It goes on to say: "If a third party can access the data stored at Utiq and the telecommunications company, whether through an illegal attack or because of an official order", the pseudonymous network signal could be traced back to the connection owners. The data collection, which is only intended for advertising purposes, would thus "provide information about a person's Internet activities, which could be used to create a comprehensive personality profile with intimate details".
The association concludes that with Utiq, "another service joins the advertising industry", which "endangers the privacy" of users "through tracking and profiling". To protect their privacy, it would instead be necessary for genuine alternatives such as context-based advertising to prevail in the digital space. According to critics, the AdTech sector as a whole has developed into a 650 billion US dollar industry that also sets technical standards as an "invisible power". The "distributed surveillance system" transforms "every little movement" of citizens into a marketable form.
(anw)
