Google (GOOG, GOOGL)’s Chrome browser said this week that it will not implement other web tracking tools after phasing out third-party cookies in 2022. But that will not change your online experience or prevent you from seeing ads for whiskey. if you were just looking at how to mix a Manhattan.
“You are still 100% targeted,” Elizabeth Renieris, a subsidiary of Harvard University’s Berkman Small Center for Internet and Society, told Yahoo Finance. While Google will not replace cookies with other tools you track individually, they are looking at alternatives that will put users in larger groups with similar interests, against which advertisers can buy ads.
And while that may not be what proponents of hard privacy want to hear, the truth is that most of the sites you visit every day are advertising. Without them, we would be looking at a whole other internet where websites pay you directly for the content they offer.
What it means for your browsing habits
To set up the table here, there are two types of web browser cookies. First-party cookies come from the website you are actively visiting, and are usually useful. For example, say you visit Yahoofinance.com. Your computer will then download a cookie from the website that will save your preferences so that you do not have to constantly log in to your account or rearrange the page as you wish.
On the other hand, advertising companies place third-party cookies on websites to track your online activities. These advertisers use the information obtained from the cookies to track your activities on the internet and to give you advertisements that are in line with your general interests – a practice known as targeted advertising. These cookies can also be useful in theory, as they will provide advertisements for products you actually want to buy.
So why the change? According to Bennett Cyphers, a staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Google partially eliminates third-party cookies to comply with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation.
What does this mean for you? If you want an idea of what Chrome will look like if it throws out third-party cookies, take a look at Mozilla’s Firefox browser or Apple’s Safari, which have been blocking third-party cookies since 2019 and 2020, respectively. It’s not entirely different.
But getting rid of third-party cookies does offer certain privacy benefits that are harder to see.
Although third-party cookies are apparently intended to give advertisers a better understanding of your interests, opponents say they can be used by data brokers to determine your exact identity. They do this by combining your browser habits with unique identifiers such as your IP address, email address or name, to find out who you are and to fire more and more targeted ads.
Without those cookies, you’ll have better overall online privacy.
What will replace the cookies?
Google is experimenting with several alternatives to replace third-party cookies, including a new mechanism called Federated Learning of Cohorts, or FLoC. According to the company, FLoC ” is a new way for businesses to reach people with relevant content and ads by bringing together large groups of people with similar interests. ‘
FLoC essentially places you in a group of other Chrome users who seem to have similar interests. Advertisers will then be able to target you via a group rather than an individual. So you’re not getting away from targeted advertising with Google’s decision to leave third – party cookies in the dust, but you’re getting some privacy benefits.
However, there are concerns with FLoCs, in particular that it could lead to discriminatory advertising practices.
“There is definitely great concern about discrimination and how these groups are formed and how much transparency we will have about it and what it means for how we are targeted,” Renieris said.
The fear is that if an advertiser wants to target a specific race, religion or ethnic group with ads, he simply has to choose a specific FLoC identifier.
While the easy answer may be to eliminate Internet advertising altogether, Garrett Johnson, an assistant professor at Questrom School of Business University in Boston, says it would mean the end of the Internet as we know it.
By eliminating a way to earn their sites effectively through advertising, website owners have to find other revenue streams, which can mean users have to get paid. Even eliminating targeted ads would be a problem.
“Modern digital advertising is built on the basis of identity using cookies,” Johnson said. ‘And if you get rid of it … our research shows that websites earn two or three times less revenue. It therefore hurts websites, which harms the open web. ”
However, Johnson, who is part of the Worldwide Web Consortium’s Improving Web Advertising Business Group, says that Google’s alternative cookie alternatives are likely to provide a middle ground for consumers and advertisers.
‘User[s] will have better privacy guarantees, because they are targeted as a group, rather than sharing their individual information, ‘he explained. Consumers would also see more personalized ads than ads for things like overwash removal tools and teeth whitening services.
The changes to Google will not start in a year. And the final result may not mean much of the change for most users. But behind the scenes it will probably afford more privacy without you having to pay for it.
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