Europeans' data shared 376 times daily in advertising sales

According to a survey, data about every internet user is transferred hundreds of times per day as companies compete for online advertising slots. 

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL),

discovered that the typical European user's data is shared 376 times each day, according to the study. According to the survey, this number jumps to 747 times per day for users in the United States. Most online services are free to use because of advertising money. The ICCL is currently suing the digital ad sector and the Data Protection Commission over what it calls an "epic data breach," claiming that no one has ever given their explicit approval to this activity.

In real-time, as a web page loads in front of someone viewing it, the data is transferred between brokers acting on behalf of companies desiring to insert advertising. The brands featured in the commercials are not involved. It contains information on the device on which the page is loading, as well as certain location facts and other data, such as prior websites visited and their subject matter.

"Every day the RTB [Real Time Bidding] industry tracks what you are looking at, no matter how private or sensitive, and it records where you go. This is the biggest data breach ever recorded. And it is repeated every day," said Dr. Johnny Ryan, senior fellow at the ICCL.