Companies Build Smartphone Shadow Profiles for Targeted Ads via 5 Key Data Streams
Updated
Updated · ZDNet · Jun 18
Companies Build Smartphone Shadow Profiles for Targeted Ads via 5 Key Data Streams
1 articles · Updated · ZDNet · Jun 18
Summary
Smartphone activity can feed detailed “shadow profiles” that companies use for targeted advertising, often without users’ explicit, informed consent.
Five major data streams drive that profiling: browser searches, online purchases, social media posts, mobile app telemetry, and subscription-service usage, which together reveal location, interests, spending habits, contacts, and likely income.
Advertising IDs, cookies, Device fingerprinting, IP addresses, GPS, Bluetooth, and email-based cross-service tracking help firms link those signals across apps and websites, while Data brokers can buy, store, and resell the resulting profiles.
ZDNET’s guide says users can curb the flow by auditing app permissions, disabling personalized ads and advertising IDs, rejecting nonessential cookies, and using privacy tools such as secure browsers, private search, VPNs, junk email accounts, and data-removal services.