"In a move that signals a focus on Web privacy, the Federal Communications Commission has tapped Jonathan Mayer to serve as chief technologist of its enforcement bureau.
Mayer, a lawyer and computer scientist, is known for exposing questionable privacy practices of tech companies, ranging from large corporations like Google to ad tech companies like Epic Markeplace.
For instance, in January Mayer discovered that Turn was tracking Verizon users through unique identifiers (also called "supercookies") that the telecom injected into mobile traffic -- despite Verizon's claims that its supercookies wouldn't be used by outside ad networks.
Soon after that revelation, Verizon changed its practice and began allowing people to opt out of the supercookies. (More recently, Verizon narrowed its targeting program. Now, the company says it will only send the header "to Verizon companies, including AOL, and to a select set of other companies that help Verizon provide services.")"
- Date Published:11/24/2015
- Original Publication:MediaPost