The big Google Chrome cookie cull starts today. Here's what you need to know
People like privacy and aren't fans of cookies, which is why Google is publicly testing a new version of Chrome that completely removes third-party cookies.
This new version of the browser is being released to around 30 million people for testing and aims to reduce privacy concerns surrounding third-party cookies, which are traditionally used for targeted advertising.
However, these 30 million represent only about one percent of the total number of Chrome users, so you may have to opt out for much of this year before it's released to a wider audience.
Chocolate, raisins or… a third party?
Third-party cookies are used to identify the interests and habits of a website user to determine which advertisements may match their interests and make the user more likely to click on an advertisement.
This targeting can take place on websites, building a very intimate cookie-cutter understanding of what you like and don't like, and typically forming a detailed demographic profile that is stored externally to the customer.
This latest privacy-focused version of the Chrome browser offers a Privacy Sandbox that – while still allowing for targeted advertising – instead stores your internet interests locally on your client. This list of interests is then auctioned off to advertisers who are trying to target specific audiences.
One potential difficulty pointed out by Dr. Lukasz Olejnik from the University of Edinburgh's Faculty of Law is that this new Privacy Sandbox could breach the European ePrivacy Directive if the targeted ads are served before the user's consent has been given, because the browser now “collects and stores data”. information' instead of 'personal data'. The ePrivacy Directive is currently being updated under the ePrivacy Regulation, Olejnik points out, due to outdated protection of some guidelines.
Google is a little late in removing third-party cookies, because other browsers such as Firefox and Safari have long since disabled these data-sucking cookies.
Through The register