Google proposing new alternative to third party cookies
Google has launched a new alternative to third party cookies to target advertising since the markets did not accept company’s earlier proposal, called FLoC. The company says the alternative, called Topics, replaces FLoC. Google has earlier announced that it will close the option of targeting advertising using third party cookies saying this will improve online privacy- Topics will show advertisers what internet users are interested in but users will be able to remove them.
”With Topics, your browser determines a handful of topics, like “Fitness” or “Travel & Transportation,” that represent your top interests for that week based on your browsing history. Topics are kept for only three weeks and old topics are deleted”, Google says in a blog post.
”Topics are selected entirely on your device without involving any external servers, including Google servers. When you visit a participating site, Topics picks just three topics, one topic from each of the past three weeks, to share with the site and its advertising partners. Topics enables browsers to give you meaningful transparency and control over this data, and in Chrome, we’re building user controls that let you see the topics, remove any you don’t like or disable the feature completely.”
Topics will exclude sensitive categories, such as gender or race. The company says Topics provides internet users with a more recognizable way to see and control how data is shared, compared to tracking mechanisms like third-party cookies.
By providing websites with users´ topics of interest, online businesses have an option that doesn’t involve covert tracking techniques, like browser fingerprinting in order to continue serving relevant ads, the company says.
Google says it will soon launch a developer trial of Topics in Chrome. ”The final design of the user controls and the other various technical aspects of how Topics works will be decided based on your feedback and what we learn in the trial.”
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