What might be one of the biggest shifts in online advertising history began recently when Google began to remove third-party cookies from its Chrome browser. Third-party cookies are a tool used by websites and marketers to track user behaviour.
Cookies and the methods they enable online monitoring have grown to be a major privacy worry. Cookies were first developed in the early days of the internet to let websites remember who you are upon login. By the end of 2024, Google plans to have removed third-party cookies for all 3.2 billion Chrome users, up from 30 million users as of last week. This is according to Statista.
Google’s first move towards a “privacy-first web” is to remove third-party cookies from Chrome, the most popular online browser in the world. As part of its new Privacy Sandbox, Google is also introducing its own tracking tool substitutes.
Christo Wilson, an associate professor in Northeastern University’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences who specialises in online privacy and monitoring, believes that although Google’s proposal may increase internet privacy for billions of users, it may also make life online more irksome.
It is a result of the steps that marketers must take to shift from using cookies as their main tracking mechanism to something else. Since Firefox and Safari banned the tracking technology years ago, users have already had to do without cookies on those browsers. However, “the prize is Chrome.”
“Now that third-party cookies are going away, there will be a lot of annoying things that happen more frequently because they still want to do individualised tracking,” Wilson adds.
One thing you’ll notice if you use Google is that a greater percentage of websites will ask for your phone number and email address. Although email addresses are now used by advertisers and the websites that employ them as the primary tracking identifier, Wilson notes that this data has always been helpful for spam assaults.
Wilson claims that websites that have no business requesting you to register for an account or sign up for a newsletter will do so just to obtain your email address and begin tracking your online activities on a large scale. “Unfortunately, users are going to get a little bit angrier.”
According to Wilson, some may even begin to switch to more intrusive methods like fingerprinting since the internet advertising industry isn’t ready, despite Google’s years of talking about and postponing its plan.
“I believe there are a number of advertising companies that are going to be caught off guard and will suffer because they have known this shift was coming for years and have not changed,” Wilson adds.
The Competition and Markets Authority in the United Kingdom looked into Google’s proposal because advertising firms expressed worries about how it might affect the level of competition in digital advertising. Ultimately, in response to the CMA’s acknowledged concerns, Google modified its Privacy Sandbox programme. Wilson, however, wonders whether advertisers can legitimately argue that competition in internet advertising is necessary given Google’s hegemony.
Wilson asserts, “Google already has reams and reams of data for advertising purposes, regardless of whether the third-party cookie exists or not.” They outperform everyone else in terms of revenue from internet advertising for a reason. Thus, I don’t believe that this significantly alters the competitive environment.
Assistant professor Laura Edelson of Northeastern University’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences believes there are still a lot of unanswered questions regarding the Privacy Sandbox programme, Google’s attempt to replace cookies.
Wilson asserts, “Google already has reams and reams of data for advertising purposes, regardless of whether the third-party cookie exists or not.” They outperform everyone else in terms of revenue from internet advertising for a reason. Thus, I don’t believe that this significantly alters the competitive environment.
Assistant professor Laura Edelson of Northeastern University’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences believes there are still a lot of unanswered questions regarding the Privacy Sandbox programme, Google’s attempt to replace cookies.
Topics is one Privacy Sandbox tool that the firm has discussed. Chrome will allocate people to categories such as real estate or cuisine based on its surveillance of their internet history. Advertisers may then know what subjects a user is interested in and give them personalised adverts whenever they visit a website.
Wilson states, “That system could still be a tracking locus, depending on how it operates.” “You are a beautiful and unique snowflake compared to everyone else if your topics are very unique.”
Google has enabled the ability to disable Privacy Sandbox settings, such as Topics, for the time being.
Wilson thinks that if Google’s proposal succeeds in what it says it can, it will be a victory for online privacy. However, he cautions that considering whether or not that privacy comes with additional benefits for one of the largest digital corporations in the world is equally important, given Google’s ongoing antitrust litigation.
It is possible to argue that Google is using its influence in this way to push these standards out and essentially define the future of internet advertising, according to Wilson. It would likely be beneficial if these [technologies] prove to be privacy-preserving while yet providing some benefit to advertising. This choice must be made by someone. Is it fantastic, though, that Google is the one making those choices?
Source: Northeastern Global News