Euractiv - MEPs ask Commission to act after revelations of sensitive EU data sell-off

Two reports from Senior Fellow Johnny Ryan and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties revealed that sensitive data on high profile government officials is collected through Real-time bidding (RTB). Euractiv covered reactions from the European Parliament.

A cross-party coalition of Members of the European Parliament demanded that the European Commission take action following the revelations that sensitive data from European leaders was being sold to the highest bidder.

The initiative came after two reports by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties published on Tuesday (14 November) that revealed a trade in real-time bidding data on EU and US leaders and military personnel sent by Google and other firms to China and Russia.

“The security of our EU institutions is at stake, and we demand swift action to assess the extent of this threat and including potential legislative measures to protect the privacy and security of European citizens in the ever-evolving landscape of digital threats”, MEP Paul Tang told Euractiv…

Johnny Ryan, a senior fellow of ICCL, said that “the RTB industry’s data free-for-all has created a serious national threat.”

The organisation calls on “the US Federal Trade Commission, European data protection authorities, and the European Commission to urgently act. The industry can not be allowed to put our elected leaders and military personnel at risk.”

The ICCL notes that in China and Russia, national laws allow security agencies to access such data.

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