Third, acquisitions that strengthen existing data monopolies could be blocked.”Ī representative from Google, the chairman of Californians for Consumer Privacy, the director of security police at Intel, and others were also present during the hearing. Second, monopoly platforms could be prohibited from combining data across their different business lines.

First, consumers could be given a robust mechanism to opt-out of online tracking. “Fixing this digital-ad-market duopoly can take any number of forms. To restore competition and innovation in this market, the data monopolies at its core need to be addressed,” Weinberg expressed.

“This market is currently a duopoly, and this reality is hurting everyone from small businesses to venture-backed startups to media companies. “Consumers flock to brands they trust and respect, and according to Harris Poll, data privacy is the most pressing issue on Americans’ minds, now for two years in a row,” he continued, before adding that “well-drafted privacy legislation can spur more competition and innovation in one of the most foundational markets of the Internet: digital advertising.” It’s contextual advertising versus behavioral advertising.” But those ads won’t follow you around, because we don’t know who you are, where you’ve been, or where you go. If you search for ‘car’, we show you car ads. Take our business for example: When you type in a search on DuckDuckGo, we simply show you ads related to that search. Weinberg then declared, “Privacy legislation is not anti-advertising. Our privacy policy is straightforward and doesn’t require a law degree to decipher: We simply do not collect or share any personal information at all.” “In many ways I come to you from the future: I run a business that is already GDPR and CCPA-compliant. They are fed up with all the intended and unintended consequences this online tracking creates, including invasive ads, identity theft, discrimination, and manipulation,” Weinberg proclaimed. “As you know, people are tired of being watched everywhere they go online. During his testimony, Weinberg claimed “privacy legislation, like the GDPR and CCPA, is not only pro-consumer, but also pro-business, and pro-advertising.”

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