Google pushes back third-party cookie block until 2023

AppleInsider · June 24, 2021 3:40PM

A Privacy Sandbox feature for Google Chrome that would block third-party cookies has been delayed by a year, over what the company says is concern for advertisers.

Google delays third-party cookie deprecation

After Apple released a series of features to prevent tracking users across apps and the web, Google announced a similar initiative. The Privacy Sandbox for Google Chrome was meant to end the use of third-party cookies and provide new privacy-first technologies to users.

In a blog post from Google, the company says that the initiative will need to be delayed since "it's become clear that more time is needed across the ecosystem to get this right."

Google believes that the ecosystem of developers and companies needs time to create the tools and prepare for the transition.

The company hopes to work with the web community to create improved tools for ad delivery. At the same time, it says that it wants to maintain user privacy and control. The key technologies for the development of new tools will be available by late 2022.

Chrome will then begin phasing out third-party cookies in mid-2023 in accordance with the UK Competition and Markets Authority. The two-stage approach of development and deployment of new technologies will give the industry time to adapt to the changes.

Google will provide a schedule for the release of the Privacy Sandbox technologies on a dedicated website. Users, however, will be waiting until late 2023 for the privacy features to be in full effect.

Keep up with everything Apple in the weekly AppleInsider Podcast -- and get a fast news update from AppleInsider Daily. Just say, "Hey, Siri," to your HomePod mini and ask for these podcasts, and our latest HomeKit Insider episode too.If you want an ad-free main AppleInsider Podcast experience, you can support the AppleInsider podcast by subscribing for $5 per month through Apple's Podcasts app, or via Patreon if you prefer any other podcast player.

chadbag · June 24, 2021 3:53PM

Or just use Safari now, and avoid all Google apps.

gatorguy · June 24, 2021 4:28PM

Just from reading various stories over the past few days this looks like a case of other advertising companies (ie Oracle, Adobe Advertising Cloud, smaller players) complaining of losing access to customer data and certain government agencies listening both here and abroad. So now there are antitrust concerns to deal with in addition to placating advertisers who will lose access to user data they would typically collect of their own volition.

Dogperson · June 24, 2021 4:28PM

Be Evil👎🏼💩

charlesatlas · June 24, 2021 5:12PM

chadbag said:

Or just use Safari now, and avoid all Google apps.

No, thanks. Safari is just so limited that it's not funny. If all you do is surf the same old sites, I suppose it's fine. I use Firefox with a judicious mix of extensions, best option for power users and abusers. Best one in this case is Privacy Badger, which I also have installed in Chrome. Gives me very granular control over third-party cookies and content. Cookie Autodelete (also available for both browsers but not Safari) deletes cookies after I leave a site I haven't whitelisted, so that helps, too.

williamlondon · June 24, 2021 5:58PM

charlesatlas said:

chadbag said:

Or just use Safari now, and avoid all Google apps.

No, thanks. Safari is just so limited that it's not funny. If all you do is surf the same old sites, I suppose it's fine. I use Firefox with a judicious mix of extensions, best option for power users and abusers. Best one in this case is Privacy Badger, which I also have installed in Chrome. Gives me very granular control over third-party cookies and content. Cookie Autodelete (also available for both browsers but not Safari) deletes cookies after I leave a site I haven't whitelisted, so that helps, too.

I use Safari with Ad Guard and Cookie, does that qualify me as a power user/abuser, and if so, where do I apply for my membership card? ;-)

auxio · June 24, 2021 11:12PM

gatorguy said:

Just from reading various stories over the past few days this looks like a case of other advertising companies (ie Oracle, Adobe Advertising Cloud, smaller players) complaining of losing access to customer data and certain government agencies listening both here and abroad. So now there are antitrust concerns to deal with in addition to placating advertisers who will lose access to user data they would typically collect of their own volition.

I'm thinking that due to Google being a competitor to other online advertising companies, having them block others while still being able to collect data themselves at a lower level in Android (which others don't have access to) would constitute unfair competition.

magman1979 · June 26, 2021 12:58AM

charlesatlas said:

chadbag said:

Or just use Safari now, and avoid all Google apps.

No, thanks. Safari is just so limited that it's not funny. If all you do is surf the same old sites, I suppose it's fine. I use Firefox with a judicious mix of extensions, best option for power users and abusers. Best one in this case is Privacy Badger, which I also have installed in Chrome. Gives me very granular control over third-party cookies and content. Cookie Autodelete (also available for both browsers but not Safari) deletes cookies after I leave a site I haven't whitelisted, so that helps, too.

Your ignorant and ill-informed FUD comment about Safari isn’t funny either… I have been using Safari as a full-fledged power user for almost 9 years now as my primary browser, have it loaded up with a cookie manager, system-wide ad-blocker, and variety of other goodies, and have always had the smoothest experience on that browser. The only time I’ve ever had to switch to another browser is because a website is rigged to be so gimped with even the slightest hint of browser privacy protections that it fails to function, that I finally go to FF or Edge for just that one site and then clear all caches when finished so it doesn’t begin tracking me in Safari afterwards.

ArchStanton · June 26, 2021 9:20AM

Google is delaying implementation of “stronger” privacy because it is money to them not to. From CNBC “Google's main business is online advertising. More than 80% of Alphabet's revenue comes from Google ads, which generated $147 billion in revenue last year.”
The less data Google collects, the less they can sell guaranteed sales to advertisers, the less advertisers pay for ads.

When you collect that much massive data on each user (many tens of thousands of pages or more if ever printed) you can profile that user’s general behavior and tendencies, shopping behavior, buying patterns, locations, keywords used, spoken words used (Alexa) with UUID grouping connecting so much if it. It’s insanely granular and a money making machine unlike any advertising ever.

Third party cookies is something Firefox, Safari, others rid a while ago. Third party cookies had been deemed anti privacy a while ago. But it’s way bigger than third party cookies and third party app tracking(Android), it is the talk of privacy that gets Google concerned and slow walking, as well as Facebook frightened. Google is feeling a smidgeon of heat on it but it a slowly growing heat. Google does not want to contemplate where the slippery slope this talk and heat is going. Google’s web search engine, Android and their apps (like maps) are assault and battery on your privacy. Every time someone talks privacy Google gets a nervous tic that they’ll be pressured to start defaulting to off some of their golden goose information flow. This third party cookie item is just the taste of things that may come.

You want to see Google and Facebook blow a gasket? Another bill from dopes in DC requiring all private data have the ability to be turned off, and it is off by default. They’d be mass heart attacks in Mountain View and menlo park simultaneously.

gatorguy · June 26, 2021 11:24AM

ArchStanton said:

You want to see Google and Facebook blow a gasket? Another bill from dopes in DC requiring all private data have the ability to be turned off, and it is off by default. They’d be mass heart attacks in Mountain View and menlo park simultaneously.

Why, would companies suddenly stop advertising? LOL.
Now would Facebook suddenly feel exposed from a business perspective? That's possible. Google not so much IMO.

charlesatlas · June 27, 2021 2:29AM

magman1979 said:

Your ignorant and ill-informed FUD comment about Safari isn’t funny either… I have been using Safari as a full-fledged power user for almost 9 years now as my primary browser, have it loaded up with a cookie manager, system-wide ad-blocker, and variety of other goodies, and have always had the smoothest experience on that browser. The only time I’ve ever had to switch to another browser is because a website is rigged to be so gimped with even the slightest hint of browser privacy protections that it fails to function, that I finally go to FF or Edge for just that one site and then clear all caches when finished so it doesn’t begin tracking me in Safari afterwards.

FUD? Hardly. You're the one who's ignorant. Nobody said Safari isn't "smooth." It just doesn't give anywhere near the amount of control I want. Ad blockers don't give granular control. I used Adblock Plus, Ublock Origin and Ghostery for years. I know of which I speak. If you think they provide a lot of control, you're sadly deluded. With Privacy Badger, I can block cookies and content on my terms. I don't have to trust filter lists compiled by somebody else. The sites that block you are no problem for me as I can enable or disable blocking server by server. For instance, if a site uses Facebook comments, Cookie Autodelete will clear all cookies including Facebook's as soon as I leave that site (and Facebook.com), so Facebook can't track me elsewhere. Certain sites demand Google or Doubleclick cookies, but I can accept those cookies while still blocking Google or Doubleclick content, so I still don't see any ads. Try that with an ad blocker. And again, as soon as I leave those sites, my browser is cleaned.

As for your fear of cross-browser tracking, that's why I have anti-fingerprinting extensions installed. Sure, you can manually clear cache and cookies, but Cookie Autodelete takes care of that automatically immediately, and only on sites where I want it to. And what about localstorage, indexedDB, plugin data or service workers? Do you clear those, too? Do you even know what they are? Only somebody who thinks his time isn't important would go around manually clearing things.

williamlondon said:

I use Safari with Ad Guard and Cookie, does that qualify me as a power user/abuser, and if so, where do I apply for my membership card? ;-)

See above if you think you're so smart. You can delete or block cookies, but can you edit them for sites that insist on logging you out every couple of months, so you'll stay logged on indefinitely? Do you have any idea what Ad Guard is blocking or does "power user" in your opinion mean someone who just blindly accepts somebody else's filter list?

ArchStanton · June 27, 2021 10:58AM

gatorguy said:

ArchStanton said:

You want to see Google and Facebook blow a gasket? Another bill from dopes in DC requiring all private data have the ability to be turned off, and it is off by default. They’d be mass heart attacks in Mountain View and menlo park simultaneously.

Why, would companies suddenly stop advertising? LOL.
Now would Facebook suddenly feel exposed from a business perspective? That's possible. Google not so much IMO.

Google for example collects mass amounts of data to create a sales profile. This profile is filled even with visits to other sites and/or purchases (uuid). You do A, you have a tendency to do B, you visit c d e, you go to events g and h, your political or religious philosophy is I, you keyword search J, your demographic is K, you mentioned L and M in social media, you viewed pictures N, you opened ad email O and P etc etc.

when it’s all put together they can forecast your purchasing, forecast how many times you must see a specific ad to make the purchase..
Those are incredible metrics that provide Google the ability to charge X rates. They are able to deliver Y sales.

If deprived of this goldmine of information they no longer can deliver Y sales. Therefore X charge is now 1/2 X.

You didn’t understand that did you?You thought ads just popped up random like ads on radio stations LOL

gatorguy · June 27, 2021 2:02PM

ArchStanton said:

gatorguy said:

ArchStanton said:

You want to see Google and Facebook blow a gasket? Another bill from dopes in DC requiring all private data have the ability to be turned off, and it is off by default. They’d be mass heart attacks in Mountain View and menlo park simultaneously.

Why, would companies suddenly stop advertising? LOL.
Now would Facebook suddenly feel exposed from a business perspective? That's possible. Google not so much IMO.

Google for example collects mass amounts of data to create a sales profile. This profile is filled even with visits to other sites and/or purchases (uuid). You do A, you have a tendency to do B, you visit c d e, you go to events g and h, your political or religious philosophy is I, you keyword search J, your demographic is K, you mentioned L and M in social media, you viewed pictures N, you opened ad email O and P etc etc.

when it’s all put together they can forecast your purchasing, forecast how many times you must see a specific ad to make the purchase..
Those are incredible metrics that provide Google the ability to charge X rates. They are able to deliver Y sales.
If deprived of this goldmine of information they no longer can deliver Y sales. Therefore X charge is now 1/2 X.

You didn’t understand that did you?You thought ads just popped up random like ads on radio stations LOL

Yeah, we all know how Google's personalized ads work. Same with Adobe's Advertising Cloud and Oracle's (Bluekai) personalized ads (sidenote: Oracle also sells data via Oracle Data Cloud) along with thousands of other ad placements and in-house ad services. Don't ignore credit bureaus and industry-specific data aggregators either, who by the way sell your user data for marketing purposes other than offering credit, unlike Google where your personal data never leaves your account, sometimes not even leaving your personal smartphone.

If all the data aggregators and advertising companies are on the same then footing advertising won't suddenly become half-pric, and Google's ad placement services will still be more valuable than most. That's the part YOU don't understand.

FWIW personalized ads are an area where Apple too is trying to put its foot back in the door. See recent news about AppStore personalized ad efforts in China, on top of targeted ads they place in front of you here in the US. Yeah, Apple sees the value of personalized ads and monetizing user data too. While iAD might have been retired Apple isn't totally out of the game.

Google pushes back third-party cookie block until 2023

Comments