A formal complaint has been lodged with the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) against the main European lobbyist for the online advertising industry. The complaint against the Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe (IAB Europe) was made by Dr Johnny Ryan, who works as chief policy and industry officer for privacy-oriented web browser Brave. It relates to a so-called cookie wall, an online barrier that prevents users from accessing the IAB Europe website unless they give certain permissions. According to the complaint, IAB Europe has told major media organisations, tracking companies and advertising technology outfits that they can “sidestep” the GDPR and rely instead on the less-onerous ePrivacy Directive. The complaint comes after it emerged that tracking technology is widespread across almost all Irish Government department and local authority websites.

Source: The Irish Times April 05, 2019 09:33 UTC