Once upon a time there was a technology giant called Google who, with great ambition, decided to revolutionize the way third-party cookies were used on the web. The mission was clear: improve user privacy and provide a safer browsing experience. But, as often happens in the most compelling stories, the journey was not without obstacles and twists. Here's what happened, what the impact was, and what future awaits us with the Privacy Sandbox.
If on the one hand the idea had caught the approval of a segment of users, another part, in particular advertisers, did not look favorably on Big G's new move. This was because it could have had a considerable impact on profitable activities. In recent years, Google has worked closely with several UK bodies, including the Competition Authority, which had launched an investigation into the Mountain View proposal.
What are Cookies?
Cookies are small segments of code that websites send to a visitor's browser and remain active while the person visits other sites. The practice has fueled much of the digital advertising ecosystem, offering the ability to track users across multiple sites to target ads.
Privacy First
The criticisms did not (temporarily) discourage Google which started a test that lasted a few months and involved 1% of users who use the Google Chrome browser (estimated at around 30 million users), selected randomly. A test that does not seem to have given the desired results, evidently, since recently, the US company reported that the experience will be modified. A new mode will allow users of the Big G browser to make "informed choices" about privacy while browsing. Only in this way would a compromise have been identified that would safeguard advertisers' revenues (in the end, Google with its Ads program is to all intents and purposes an advertising agency) and that would protect privacy.
VP Chavez, however, is not only concerned with communicating an important (corporate) choice in the field, but is also keen to point out that "developers have alternatives suitable for preserving privacy".
Hence, the vision that translates into the company policy of increasing "additional privacy controls" with the expectation of "introducing IP protection in Chrome's incognito browsing mode" to absolutely avoid any form of user tracking.
How Privacy Sandbox is changing
The new method that will be used in the future will still be called Privacy Sandbox, but unlike the continuous delays and unexpected events that have occurred in the last four years and the project to withdraw cookies has been put aside, Google does not announce dates in which the new function will be fully active . One of the more interesting implementations that may be available to users in the future is IP Address protection in incognito mode, as reported by the Vice President of Privacy Sandbox, Antonio Chavez, in a blog post.
While advertisers have breathed a sigh of relief, the same cannot be said of bodies, such as the United Kingdom's ICO, (Information Commissioner's Office) an independent authority responsible for the protection of personal data and privacy. «We are disappointed that Google has changed its plans and no longer intends to eliminate third-party cookies from the Chrome browser» said Stephen Bonner, deputy commissioner of the ICO, who continues: «Since the beginning of Google's Sandbox project In 2019, we felt that blocking third-party cookies would be a positive step for consumers." So what changes? Just nothing. Everything will remain as before, and it is not certain whether this is good news for either users or advertisers. It certainly is for Google.
Third party cookies: what didn't work and what will happen
The stop to the attempt to progressively eliminate third-party cookies on the web, by big tech, evidently triggers the first critical voices, even more so in the face of a situation in which the same competitors such as Apple/Safari and Mozilla/Firefox for years (2020) they have no longer supported third-party cookies, introducing advanced tracking protections and, moreover, not only those.
It is therefore not surprising that the Competition and Markets Authority - CMA of the United Kingdom is carefully monitoring the changes made by Google, with "the logical consequence being the introduction of a user choice prompt, which allows users users to choose whether to store third-party cookies." Finally, let's try to hypothesize some future scenarios, starting from the assumption that the UK CMA, as it has already announced, will not publish its quarterly update on Google's compliance.
This is why this Authority is called upon to carefully evaluate Google's new (announced) approach to the "Privacy Sandbox", and will have to work side by side with the English Privacy Authority, the Information Commissioner's Office - better known as ICO, on these fronts .
If the near future is therefore already outlined, everything still needs to be filled. Let's monitor the rest, it will be fundamental.
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