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Regulate data brokers like commodities brokers. Easy peasy. Put them under CFTC jurisdiction. Series 3 NFA exams for everyone. The spot market keep limited ov

Regulate data brokers like commodities brokers. Easy peasy. Put them under CFTC jurisdiction. Series 3 NFA exams for everyone. The spot market keep limited oversight, the future value of data markets get complete oversight.

satellite2 6y ago
The issue is that those are future contracts that expire in a few milliseconds, so by definition they are almost totally illiquid. At the same time you cannot really force more time for the auction as users often spend less than a second in front of an ad screen. So you effectively have only a few milliseconds to sell them, otherwise you would have sold an already perished product... So I'm not sure the existing regulations regarding future contracts could effectively regulate this market.
paxys 6y ago
None of this makes any sense. What even is a "data broker"? And how will taking a random exam help?
- astrange 6y ago
  A data broker is something from Cyberpunk, I think. People might think they exist in the real world because they think Google "sells your data", which they don't do, they sell ads. Their business model relies on nobody else getting your data.
  - kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
    Data brokers most definitely exist. They've been around since the 70's. They maintain a lower profile precisely because of the intrusive nature of their business. One I know of was tracking menstrual cycles for optimal ad targeting back in the 90's. Google is the new kid on the block.
    - NoodleIncident 6y ago
      They exist, but Google and Facebook are buying from them, not selling.
  - manigandham 6y ago
    There are plenty of companies that do sell data. It's just not what people expect in terms of adtech or Google, but they do exist and are often used to run ad campaigns.
  - toast0 6y ago
    Google doesn't (afaik) sell your data directly, but when they sell ads based on categories they've fit you to, that category information can be harvested. If it's a ad unit which includes javascript or image beacons, if your browser displays it, the ad can send the category information to the advertiser/intermediary ad network/partners/whoever. If it's just a link, then you'd have to activate the link (intentionally or not), but depending on what information is passed to ad networks during the bidding process, there may be pretty significant information transfer anyway.
manigandham 6y ago
That has nothing to do with this case or how most of adtech works.

satellite2 6y ago

The issue is that those are future contracts that expire in a few milliseconds, so by definition they are almost totally illiquid. At the same time you cannot really force more time for the auction as users often spend less than a second in front of an ad screen. So you effectively have only a few milliseconds to sell them, otherwise you would have sold an already perished product... So I'm not sure the existing regulations regarding future contracts could effectively regulate this market.

paxys 6y ago

None of this makes any sense. What even is a "data broker"? And how will taking a random exam help?

astrange 6y ago
A data broker is something from Cyberpunk, I think. People might think they exist in the real world because they think Google "sells your data", which they don't do, they sell ads. Their business model relies on nobody else getting your data.
- kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
  Data brokers most definitely exist. They've been around since the 70's. They maintain a lower profile precisely because of the intrusive nature of their business. One I know of was tracking menstrual cycles for optimal ad targeting back in the 90's. Google is the new kid on the block.
  - NoodleIncident 6y ago
    They exist, but Google and Facebook are buying from them, not selling.
- manigandham 6y ago
  There are plenty of companies that do sell data. It's just not what people expect in terms of adtech or Google, but they do exist and are often used to run ad campaigns.
- toast0 6y ago
  Google doesn't (afaik) sell your data directly, but when they sell ads based on categories they've fit you to, that category information can be harvested. If it's a ad unit which includes javascript or image beacons, if your browser displays it, the ad can send the category information to the advertiser/intermediary ad network/partners/whoever. If it's just a link, then you'd have to activate the link (intentionally or not), but depending on what information is passed to ad networks during the bidding process, there may be pretty significant information transfer anyway.

manigandham 6y ago

That has nothing to do with this case or how most of adtech works.