Project description
Monitoring illegitimate third-party tracking in mobile apps
The growing use of digital technologies and the Internet of Things, along with their impact on our daily lives, has resulted in massive amounts of data. However, the unauthorised and illegitimate mining, collection, and compilation of user data has become a significant issue in recent years, threatening privacy and safety. In response, EU Member States have implemented several robust political measures to address this challenge. The ERC-funded APPMONITOR project aims to develop tools to measure and monitor digital tracking and datafication by third parties in mobile apps. The project will create and test a toolkit for comparing mobile tracking across different operating system ecosystems. It will also develop a prototype to enforce legislation on illegitimate tracking.
Objective
APPMONITOR addresses the critical need for means and measures to monitor digital tracking and datafication by third-parties in mobile apps in Europe, building on the ERC StG DATAFIED LIVING. With EU implementing powerful regulations to curb unwanted and illegitimate collection, mining, and compilation of user data across digital technologies, member states now have a strong political mandate to regulate the booming data economy. Yet, the successful enforcement of these schemes relies on the introduction of systematic monitoring, and a coherence between the stated ambitions and the means implemented to reach said goals. The objectives of this POC are 1) to deliver the first empirical toolkit for comparing mobile tracking across the iOS and Android ecologies and across different regional contexts within the EU thereby addressing a significant knowledge gap concerning tracking in iOS apps, 2) to use the toolkit to test the efficacy of new legal instruments for app data transparency, and 3) to develop and test a prototype for scrutinizing and labelling Android and iOS apps according to their embedding of third-party tracking that can assist regulators in enforcing legislation against illegitimate tracking and create transparency for citizens to make informed choices about app download, factoring in the app’s embedded third-party tracking.
APPMONITOR’s innovation will be developed as open-source tools to make it possible for regulatory actors, as well as privacy, digital rights and data ethics NGOs to use and further develop them in response to market and technology changes. APPMONITOR thus presents a unique opportunity for a breakthrough in regulation of the mobile data market to benefit European citizens, a much-needed set of tools for regulatory actors to enforce EU legislation, and critical knowledge for policy-makers to qualify future regulation.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC-POC - HORIZON ERC Proof of Concept Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-POC
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
1165 KOBENHAVN
Denmark
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.