How the Pentagon Learned to Use Targeted Ads to Find Its Targets—and Vladimir Putin

hpshelton commented 2 months ago

layout: post type: link date: 2024-04-30 18:00:00 -0700 title: "How the Pentagon Learned to Use Targeted Ads to Find Its Targets—and Vladimir Putin" link: https://archive.ph/Hu2ay permalink: /post/2024/04/30/ad-tech categories:

advertising
privacy
surveillance
technology
government
espionage

Adtech uses the basic lifeblood of digital commerce—the trail of data that comes off nearly all mobile phones—to deliver valuable intelligence information. Edward Snowden’s 2013 leaks showed that, for a time, spy agencies could get data from digital advertisers by tapping fiber-optic cables or internet choke points. But in the post-Snowden world, more and more traffic like that was being encrypted; no longer could the National Security Agency pull data from advertisers by eavesdropping. So it was a revelation—especially given the public outcry over Snowden’s leaks—that agencies could just buy some of the data they needed straight from commercial entities. One technology consultant who works on projects for the US government explained it this way to me: “The advertising technology ecosystem is the largest information-gathering enterprise ever conceived by man. And it wasn’t built by the government.”

hpshelton commented 2 months ago

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hpshelton commented 2 months ago

https://github.com/hpshelton/hpshelton.github.io/commit/ca1304d016ff6965f21374f90fc4196b911a727d

hpshelton commented 2 months ago

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http://hpshelton.com/post/2024/04/30/ad-tech

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How the Pentagon Learned to Use Targeted Ads to Find Its Targets—and Vladimir Putin | WIRED #137

espionage