Google will now part ways with the http "cookies" which tracks users' data and at the same time, permits the delivery of interest-based ads. However, the idea of having cookies seems unfavorable for privacy defenders. The idea of pursuing FloC will be a possible replacement for the third-party cookies.
What's Next for the Third-Party Cookies
"This approach disguises people from the crowd and uses device computing to keep a person's browser history private," Google product manager Chetna Bindra said last month when he presented a system named Federated Learning of Cohorts (FloC).
According to The Drum, FloC works by permitting the delivery of relevant ads intended to target a huge group of people - hundreds or even thousands. The said privacy-focused solution aims for those individuals with like interests.
Meanwhile, the information is not spread throughout the internet and the anonymity of the accounts which are categorized according to the people's interests are maintained. In this process, the information can only be managed in the device.
Furthermore, Google will navigate the segments as per user control. In addition, the tech giant has been exploring the Floc option this year for the Google Chrome browser. Bindra added that based on their studies, it was revealed that the effectiveness of the FloCs was proven to recognize the interests of their users, giving a more concrete reason to replace the cookies.
Bindra, who according to her LinkedIn profile already spent more than 20 years in technology innovation, continued that the essence of the advertising to the open web is a great privilege to all users. However, the User Trust and Privacy specialist said that a high risk is also poised to invade the web environment at the cost of misaligned practices about data privacy.
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Meanwhile, Mountain View, a Silicon Valley company was bombarded with several criticisms about the user privacy issues raised by the Western officials. The same thing has been happening with Google. Despite being watchful with the concern of data privacy invasion, the tech giant has been continuously slammed by many people regarding the never-ending issue.
Privacy is not secured in the web
According to NDTV, when a user clicks a website, the text files which account as cookies will appear. Additionally, these cookies paved the way for easier website access and browsing especially for those sites that are frequently visited by the users.
While users are not aware of the purpose of the website cookies, some cookies require the visitors to input their name and address. Some websites, on the other hand, posed a lot of cyber harm due to information theft.
For Bennet Cyphers when asked by the AFP about the cookies, he said that those are a privacy 'nightmare.' The Electronic Frontier Foundation staff technologist added that advertising can also be beneficial for a website visitor, like in the case of searching for food recipes shown as ads.
Previously, two web browsers, Apple's Safari and Firefox have already moved away with the website cookies but the most popular browser still utilized them. As per StatCounter, Google Chrome was the most used browser until now, accounting for 63 percent of the browser market globally.
About Google's usage of third-party cookies, Cyphers said that Google only wants their ad business moving forward. He continued that he was growing worried if Google is plotting something for the internet users about marketing ads. Moreover, that only makes privacy issues worse because the new system might only resort to becoming less transparent.
James Rosewell, a business coalition director for 'A Marketers for an Open Web,' said that he was questioning the effectiveness of Google's cohort move. Rosewell added that the proposals coming from Google have a negative impact for the media owners and in majority, are also bad for the markets and advertising technology.
This article is owned by Tech Times.
Written by Joen Coronel
