[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #758: Google Delays Privacy Initiative as Major Players Push Back

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OPLIN 4Cast #758: Google Delays Privacy Initiative as Major Players Push
Back
July 7th, 2021

[image: magnifying-glass] Last week (so I could get the accumulated bonuses
from winning "Words with Friends" games) I updated my iPad, and finally
encountered that Identity for Advertisers (IDFA) permissions prompt
<https://4cast.oplin.org/?p=8546> we discussed in March. The *Wall Street
Journal* reports that, due to Apple's permission changes, spending on iOS
ads fell by a third in June, while Android spending rose 10%
<https://www.wsj.com/articles/after-apple-tightens-tracking-rules-advertisers-shift-spending-toward-android-devices-11625477401?mod=djemalertNEWS>.
The announcement that Google will be delaying its major privacy initiative—the
elimination of third-party cookie support from Chrome
<https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/30/22358287/privacy-ads-google-chrome-floc-cookies-cookiepocalypse-finger-printing>—is
driving even more ad-tech investment. Read more about Google's
proposed "Federated
Learning of Cohorts
<https://www.wired.com/story/google-floc-privacy-ad-tracking-explainer/>"
(FLoC) and why it's being delayed below.

   -
   - An updated timeline for Privacy Sandbox milestones
   <https://blog.google/products/chrome/updated-timeline-privacy-sandbox-milestones/>
   [*The Keyword*] "We believe the web community needs to come together to
   develop a set of open standards to fundamentally enhance privacy on the
   web, giving people more transparency and greater control over how their
   data is used."
   - Google delays FLoC rollout until 2023
   <https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/06/google-delays-floc-rollout-until-2023/>
   [*Ars Technica*] "Instead of letting individual companies hide a
   third-party cookie on your computer that tracks what websites you visit for
   ad interest tracking, FLoC would let *Chrome* build an ad profile
   locally on your computer and ship that profile to advertisers whenever they
   ask. Google says this plan is better than third-party cookies because it
   will take individual identification out of the ad-tracking process by
   combining people into groups, though many opponents of the idea have
   disputed this idea."
   - Google delays Chrome's cookie-blocking privacy plan by nearly 2 years
   <https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/google-delays-chromes-cookie-blocking-privacy-plan-by-nearly-2-years/>
   [*CNET*] "Google believes blocking third-party cookies at this stage is
   actually bad for people using the web because it drives tracking companies
   to covert approaches such as fingerprinting. Unlike cookies, users cannot
   clear their fingerprint, and therefore cannot control how their information
   is collected or used."
   - Fighting FLoC and Fighting Monopoly Are Fully Compatible
   <https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/04/fighting-floc-and-fighting-monopoly-are-fully-compatible>
   [*Electronic Frontier Foundation*] "Google’s move to kill the
   third-party cookie has been greeted with both cheers and derision. On the
   one hand, some people are happy to see the death of one of the internet’s
   most invasive technologies. We’re glad to see it go, too - but we’re pretty
   upset to see that it’s going to be replaced with a highly invasive
   alternative tracking technology (bad enough) that can eliminate the
   majority of Google’s competitors in the data-acquisition and ad-targeting
   sectors in a single stroke (worse)."

*From the Ohio Web Library <http://ohioweblibrary.org>:*

   - Hachman, Mark. “Google Chrome Will Replace Third-Party Cookies with
   Tracking That’s Less Intrusive
   <https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.oplin.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tfh&AN=149561373&site=ehost-live>
   .” *PCWorld*, vol. 39, no. 4, Apr. 2021, pp. 16–17.
   - Wittenstein, Jeran, and Mark Bergen. “Ad-Tech Stocks Surge After
   Google Delays Phaseout of Cookies
   <https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.oplin.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=151102790&site=ehost-live>
   .” *Bloomberg.Com*, June 2021, p. 354.
   - “WordPress Says It Will Disable Google’s Floc Ad-Tracking Technology
   <https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.oplin.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=2W6802746180&site=ehost-live>
   .” *Hindustan Times*, 19 Apr. 2021.

------------------------------
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