Adobe illegally tracks millions of Dutch people online and shares the data it harvests about them with third-party companies, a lawsuit filed on Wednesday by Dutch privacy advocate SDBN said.
According to Stichting Data Bescherming Nederland (SDBN), Adobe collects data about Dutch internet users via tracking cookies and code embedded in various popular websites and apps, like Tui.nl, Abp.nl, belastingdienst.nl (Dutch Tax Authority), Marktplaats, and Ziggo.
Adobe does this through its Audience Manager platform — part of the Adobe Experience Cloud — a marketing tool that “allows companies to create profiles of internet users,” SDBN said in a press release. Adobe’s practices are unethical and violate the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), it added.
“While Adobe is primarily recognized as a design software supplier, what’s surprising is its simultaneous involvement in the digital personal data market – tracking your online activities,” Anouk Ruhaak, the Chair of SDBN, said.
SDBN is demanding that Adobe stop this invasive data collection, delete all the collected data, and compensate the approximately seven million Dutch people affected. The organization also wants Adobe to reveal the third parties it has shared the data with.
However, Adobe has refuted the SDBN’s claims in an email to VPNOverview, insisting the accusations are based on “misunderstandings about Adobe’s enterprise technology and Adobe’s role around data our enterprise customers collect.”
Adobe’s Tracking Methods
SDBN said Adobe collects data “on virtually every Dutch internet user, irrespective of whether they have ever used an Adobe product.”
Adobe’s tracking cookies on popular Dutch websites are usually activated when users visit these sites and hastily select “accept all” on cookie banners, the SDBN said. But Adobe also tracks users without consent.
“Moreover, in many instances, Adobe places tracking cookies even before you have made a choice in the cookie banner that is supposed to transmit your tracking preferences,” the SDBN said.
Meanwhile, for mobile apps, the SDBN said Adobe places code in its software development kits (SDK), and when developers use these SDKs, bits of Adobe code get into their apps.
“This is done via tens of thousands of websites and apps, including websites that many Dutch people regularly visit (such as TUI, beterhoren.nl and Douglas) and popular apps (such as Marktplaats, Buienradar and Bol.com),” the SDBN’s website reads.
According to the SDBN, this invasive and widespread tracking allowed Adobe to create detailed profiles of Dutch internet users, which it shared with its commercial parties for profit.
However, Adobe says it doesn’t have any control over how its Experience Cloud customers collect and use data. “This means the customer [Experience Cloud user] is the data controller and, as such, decides which cookies to deploy, what data to collect, what uses to put that data to, and determines what consent to collect from visitors to its own websites,” a spokesperson for Adobe said.
How to Protect Your Privacy Online
The SDBN’s initiative seeks to protect the rights of everyone in the Netherlands affected by Adobe’s tracking practices since May 25, 2018. This includes individuals who have had Adobe tracking cookies in their browsers or used mobile apps embedded with code from Adobe’s SDKs.
Alongside the ongoing case against Adobe, SDBN is actively pursuing legal action against major tech companies like Twitter (formerly X) and Amazon.
If you think you were affected by Adobe’s data collection, you can sign up and join the lawsuit on the SDBN’s website at stichtingdatabescherming.nl or on adobe.jestaattekoop.nl. The SDBN said it expects the lawsuit to be a “long-term affair,” and statements are only expected in 2017, “at the earliest.”
Unfortunately, Adobe is not the exception. Online tracking is pervasive. A recent report by the Mozilla Foundation revealed that companies are collecting more data than ever today.
Interested in learning how to protect your privacy when almost every website tracks you? One way to reduce your digital footprint is to use a privacy-friendly browser like Brave or Mozilla Firefox. We also recommend using a top-rated VPN, like NordVPN, to hide your IP address and spoof your location.
You’ll find the complete list of websites and mobile apps the lawsuit alleges Adobe uses to track Dutch internet users in the SDBN’s press release.
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