To the relief of many users, Google promised to stop tracking users in 2021, announcing instead, the Privacy Sandbox, which would track groups. To the dismay of many, Google has now gone back on its word, stating it will instead leave the choice up to users.
Google’s Privacy Sandbox
Privacy Sandbox is an initiative by Google to create web technologies that protect user privacy, while still allowing advertisers to target ads effectively.
The plan was to replace third-party cookies completely, with new tools that limit the amount of data shared about users, while still enabling personalized advertising. This approach focuses on tracking groups of users with similar interests rather than individuals, thereby enhancing privacy.
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The primary components of the Privacy Sandbox include:
- Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC): groups users into large clusters based on their browsing habits, allowing advertisers to target ads without needing to know individual user details.
- Turtledove: enables ad auctions to occur within the browser itself, reducing the amount of data shared with advertisers.
- Trust Tokens: allow websites to determine whether a user is legitimate without sharing personal data, helping to combat fraud and spam.
- Conversion Measurement: helps advertisers measure the effectiveness of their ads without tracking individual users across the Web.
- Privacy Budget: limits the amount of information that websites can collect about a user, helping to prevent fingerprinting techniques that track users without cookies.
Good to know: check out these web browsers with a focus on privacy.
Google Now Backing Away from Its Privacy Sandbox Commitment
Google’s Privacy Sandbox sounded great to many people. While they would still be identified as a group for advertisers, without third-party cookies, users’ personal information wasn’t as much at risk.
But now Google is changing course. It was announced in a blog post by Anthony Chavez, the VP of Privacy Sandbox, that the company received much feedback about the plan that helped it create solutions that “aim to support a competitive and thriving marketplace that works for publishers and advertisers, and encourage the adoption of privacy-enhancing technologies.”
But what does all that mean? Chavez further explained that testing with ad tech companies showed that Privacy Sandbox could make that plan a reality, and they believe it will slowly improve overall performance. Yet, they also realize the transition requires work and that the policy will have an impact on publishers, advertisers, and others in online advertising.
This caused Google to update its approach. Instead of making Privacy Sandbox a blanket policy for all, Google’s updated approach allows for user choice. Google will allow Chrome users to choose options for themselves. However, the options were not laid out in the blog post.
Chavez did say they are discussing the new direction with regulators. Additionally, Google will continue to have Sandbox APIs as an option and said it’s important for developers to have alternatives that preserve privacy. There are plans, too, for Google to offer additional privacy controls in Chrome, including IP Protection.
Interestingly, the Google VP didn’t really mention anything about third-party cookies. But with Privacy Sandbox only an option, it seems eliminating third-party cookies completely is not going to happen. If you’re just tired of third-party cookies, learn how to disable them in Google Chrome and Firefox.
Image credit: Canva. Screenshot by Laura Tucker.
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Laura Tucker –
Contributor
Laura has spent more than 20 years writing news, reviews, and op-eds, with the majority of those years as an editor as well. She has exclusively used Apple products for the past 35 years. In addition to writing and editing at MTE, she also runs the site’s sponsored review program.
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