With digital platforms vying for market share and profit, and government vying for power and data, privacy is the casualty of data Brokerage battles.
February 24, 2025
By: Bobby Casey, Managing Director GWP
The battle for online privacy continues, and it’s looking like privacy is losing. The weaponization of technology against people is an unfortunate byproduct of technological advancement. A byproduct foreseen by many science fiction writers, to be sure.
This isn’t a shocking revelation as much as it’s a heads up to what is the natural progression of technocratic control over the lives of everyday people. The tug of war between digital platforms and governments has made it so privacy is the casualty of data brokerage battles.
Where we’ve been…
Looking at the overreach of technology is like looking at the toxins in your daily diet. The effects of anything are often measured in controlled environments and in isolation of anything else. So X toxin might not be that big of a deal if you only eat one serving of Y your entire life, but X toxin becomes hazardous when it is consumed regularly along with a string of other toxins that were otherwise harmless by themselves as a single serving.
The currency technocrats are using is your data. Data can and is bought, sold, and traded, and in the wrong hands it can destroy lives.
For example, people have become accustomed to sharing pictures of themselves with friends online. How you look is public knowledge since you go out all the time for various reasons. Your name is relatively public considering you give it each time you meet someone or make an appointment.
Mix in social activity, search activity, entertainment activity, and purchase activity all happening online, and you have a trackable person. Next thing you know, there are credit cards tracking your carbon footprint. Suddenly, Central Bank Digital Currency doesn’t seem like such a leap.
It’s mission creep.
As an independent private corporation, they just want to be profitable. Government, on the other hand wants to be powerful. They find ways of harnessing great things for great evil. Case in point: governments demanding social media platforms censor or suppress information during the pandemic and elections.
Whether it’s deciding what information you receive or weaponizing your information against you, privacy is the casualty of data brokerage battles.
Apple Advanced Data Protection
Speaking of government weaponizing technology, this just happened: Cornered by the UK’s Demand for an Encryption Backdoor, Apple Turns Off Its Strongest Security Setting.
They are talking about the Advanced Data Protection, or ADP, an optional service which offers end-to-end encryption for files, backups, and more.
This was done in response to the UK pressuring Apple to create a backdoor workaround for their ADP system. They specifically sought a backdoor into users’ data regardless of where they were and whether they were citizens of the UK.
Apple had one of two choices: either build the backdoor, or disable ADP for the UK.
If Apple built the backdoor, it would make everyone in the world with an Apple device vulnerable. As EFF puts it:
“There is no world where, once built, these backdoors would only be used by open and democratic governments. These systems can be, and quickly will be, used by more repressive governments around the world to read protesters’ and dissenters’ communications.”
If it just disabled ADP for the UK, it affects only the people of the UK. It’s like the real life version of the Train Ethics image: do you pull the lever and have the train run one over, or do you let the train run over everyone else?
Apple had no desire to access its customers’ data. The UK apparently has quite the appetite for it. It’s not clear whether other digital services have been approached by the UK government, but it’s important to note, Apple isn’t the only provider of end-to-end encryption services:
“You can optionally enable end-to-end encryption for chat backups in WhatsApp or backups from Samsung Galaxy phones. Many cloud backup services offer similar protections, as do countless chat apps, like Signal, to secure conversations.”
So for now, the data of the people of the UK who use Apple are left vulnerable in order to accommodate their government, and privacy is the casualty of data brokerage battles.
Google Fingerprint
After many years of promising, Google is finally doing away with 3rd party cookies!
Don’t bring out the champagne yet though. Google has also changed their position on “fingerprinting”. Whereas in 2019, they decried it as a bad idea since there’s no way to opt out of it; as of February 16, 2025, they’ve activated it. What is digital fingerprinting? According to MalwareBytes Lab:
Digital fingerprinting is like creating a unique digital ID for you or your device based on various pieces of information collected when you browse the internet, like:
- Operating System (OS): Windows, Android, iOS, etc.
- Browser type and version
- IP address
- Installed browser plugins
- Time zone
- Language settings
- …and so on.
With all these pieces of information, it’s possible to create a unique fingerprint by which websites can recognize you, even if you clear your cookies. They will even be able to make an informed guess if you visit the same site with a different browser.
You can still opt in or opt out of personalized ads, but there is no opting out of fingerprinting. You can obscure some of this data by using a VPN, but for now, we all wait and see whether Google’s optimism can triumph over privacy hawks’ skepticism. As a spokesperson for vpnMentor said:
“This industry has long been the silent director of information exchange in the digital space,” vpnMentor says, “influencing how data is amassed, packaged, and monetized. Data brokers tap multiple sources and methods to collect information on consumers and build dynamic user profiles, which are then sold to third parties.”
The stats are stark. This data brokerage industry is already worth “around US$390 billion,” and could grow to as much as “US$672 billion by 2032.” If these reported values are accurate, vpnMentor says, this makes this an industry on a par with — or even great then — social medial and cybersecurity. You can see why there’s so much hunger for more of your data from more of your devices.
In a world where information is scarce, the one with data is king. In a world where information is abundant, the one who can synthesize it is king. In the fight for top dog and control, privacy is the casualty of data brokerage battles.
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