It’s not quite a smoking gun, but it’s just the sort of information that Sen. Ron Wyden’s staff suspected would indicate how ad tech data can make its way into the hands of foreign governments with ill intentions against people in the U.S.
In early April, when Wyden and other senators sent letters in early April to digital ad companies including AT&T, Google, Twitter and Verizon Media, the Oregon Democrat wanted details about the firms they pass precise location information and other data to along the complex chain of players in the global real-time bidding (RTB) ad marketplace. In particular, the legislators wanted to know whether any of those firms receiving the data are based in countries where authoritarian or adversarial governments or bad actors could access the data and use the information to target dissidents residing in the U.S., perpetrate disinformation campaigns or worse.