Councils let firms track visits to webpages on benefits and disability

guest · Feb 8, 2020

Councils let firms track visits to webpages on benefits and disability
Investigation finds 400-plus councils let at least one third party track use of their sites
February 4, 2020
https://www.theguardian.com/technol...visits-to-webpages-on-benefits-and-disability

Councils are sharing information about users of their websites – including when they seek help with a benefit claim, or with a disability or alcoholism – with dozens of private companies.

More than 400 local authorities allowed at least one third-party company to track individuals who visit their sites, an investigation has revealed.
Some councils were found to be letting companies track use of sensitive sections of their sites, such as when people were seeking financial help or support for substance abuse.

“Private companies embedded on council websites learn about you. This happens even on the most sensitive occasions, when you might be seeking help from your council.”
Naik said it was hard to tell whether councils were making money from it. “But I imagine to councils it seems like a win-win situation.”
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Brave: Brave uncovers widespread surveillance of UK citizens by private companies embedded on UK council websites

Brave announces Surveillance on UK council websites, a study of private companies’ data collection on council websites across the United Kingdom.
None of the data collecting companies recorded in this study had received consent from the website visitor to lawfully process data.
Failure of ICO enforcement
Real-time bidding is the biggest data breach ever recorded in the UK. Though illegality is not in dispute, the UK’s privacy regulator (the ICO) has failed to act.

Brendan Eich, the inventor of JavaScript and CEO of Brave, said “this report should spur the UK Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, to finally enforce the law. She should force data companies to cease the widespread broadcast of personal data”.

“It is now a full 17 months since evidence from Brave and complaints about breaches of data protection laws were filed before the ICO”, said Mr Eich. “The time to act is now”.
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Report: "Surveillance on UK council websites" (PDF): https://brave.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Surveillance-on-UK-council-websites_compressed_version.pdf

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Councils let firms track visits to webpages on benefits and disability

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