Google has apparently decided to stop tracking users through third-party “cookies ,” which allowed the company to serve personalized ads . However, privacy the. cookies have also come under fire from users and advocates
Google recently tested another tracking practice for advertising purposes, and a month ago it released the results of those tests. According to the company, the new practice could improve online privacy while also enabling targeted advertising.
“ This approach effectively hides individuals within the crowd and uses on-device processing to keep a person’s browsing history private, ” a Google executive explained . The new tracking approach is called Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) .
“The results show that when it comes to creating interest-based audiences, FLoC can effectively replace third-party cookies“.
The company will begin testing the new FLoC approach with advertisers later this year.
“Advertising is essential to keeping the web open for everyone, but there is a risk if privacy practices don’t keep up with changing expectations,” the Google executive added.
Google has many incentives to make this change. The American company has received privacy practices user , while it is also well aware of the legislation that protects users' rights.
The growing fear of cookie tracking has led to privacy rules such as GDPR in Europe and has forced the company to take steps that will allow it to effectively target users without obtaining too much information about them.
Some types of cookies make it easier to log in and browse frequently visited sites , but there are others that are annoying and dangerous for many
“Third-party cookies are a nightmare privacy,” said one expert. “You don’t need to know what each of us is doing just to show an ad.”
According to the expert, contextual advertising can be effective. Someone could see ads only on the site they are visiting . For example, if they have visited a site with cooking recipes, they could see related ads there (e.g. for cooking utensils or groceries, etc.).
Safari and Firefox browsers have already removed third-party cookies .
On the other hand, the Chrome browser, which has the largest share of the global market, still uses them.
Experts, of course, are also concerned about the new secret formula that Google uses to categorize Internet users based on some common characteristics, and target them with ads and marketing messages, without knowing exactly who they are.
“There is the potential to exacerbate privacy issues,” the expert said, suggesting that the new system could create “cohort badges” of people who may be targeted, without transparency.
“There is a machine learning black box that will be able to take everything you do, even in your browser, and create a label that says you are this type of person,” the expert said.
“Advertising companies will decode the meaning of these labels “.
This way, they will be able to understand specific ages, genders or races and other characteristics, such as political views, etc.
There is a lot of backlash against the new tracking approach that Google wants to use in place of third-party cookies. In the coming time, we will see if the company will adopt this new system.
Source: SecurityWeek
