Google is on a mission to replace cookies with something better, but thus far every alternative it has built would give it even more power over the web.
In 2021, Google pulled the trigger on it’s grand plan to get rid of cookies — a fundamental but problematic part of the internet as we know it — and replace them with a new “privacy-first alternative” called Federated Learning of Cohorts, or FLoC. In theory, it was a great idea, but unfortunately the scheme didn’t pan out nearly as well as Google had hoped.
Google Topics sounds like a win-win on the surface. It not only allows advertisers to target your interests, but it does so without compromising any of your personal information. Even the browsing information the browser uses to infer your topics never leaves your computer — a remarkably more private experience from the invasive nature of cookies, which are essentially little bits of data advertisers store on your devices to profile and follow you across the internet.
FLoC’s other big shortcoming was that because it swept your entire browsing history to learn your interests, it enabled advertisers to target you based on your every little movement on the internet — as opposed to cookies, which are more limited and only worked on the sites they were manually programmed on.
Advertisers aren’t happy with how infrequently topics update, or their quantity restrictions. Google adds just one new topic every week, and given how rapidly online trends and people’s attention change, advertisers believe by the time they get a fresh batch, they’d be already outdated. The loss of third-party cookies is estimated to cut advertiser revenue by a staggering 70 percent, and Topics, many believe, could worsen that figure.
Some also fear Google will unfairly tap into the mountains of data it will extract through Topics to target people. In a statement, a company spokesperson told Digital Trends that “as the Privacy Sandbox proposals are developed and implemented,” their work will “not give preferential treatment or advantage to Google’s advertising products or to Google’s own sites.”
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
New Google Docs suggestions will try to fix your bad writing | Digital TrendsGoogle wants you to write with better tone and style inside GoogleDocs, and new tools will help ensure you write with inclusivity.
Read more »
Google Pixel 6a retail box leak gives glimpse of its design | Digital TrendsThe Google Pixel 6a is rumored to be coming soon and now more evidence for that has emerged.
Read more »
Google ‘unfairly’ blocked rival payments, India’s antitrust regulator says | EngadgetIndian developers are only allowed to use Google’s billing system for Android apps..
Read more »
This new AI tool from Google could change the way we search onlineThis week Google announced it will use its MUM AI model to detect personal crises among Search users. charli_bing explains how the technology works.
Read more »
Google Search gets a great new feature to help fight misinformationGoogle released new Google Search features to fight misinformation, including a new highly cited label that will appear on news stories.
Read more »