Forget Chrome—Google Starts Tracking All Your Devices In 10 Days – Forbes
You will be tracked—everywhere.Republished on February 8th with new analysis into Google’s tracking cookie replacement and implications for Chrome’s 3 billion users.Google has a tracking problem. Nowhere is this more acute than with Chrome, the world’s most popular browser and front-end to the company’s marketing machine. Last year, Google reversed its decision to kill off the tracking cookies that follow Chrome’s 3 billion users around the web. That was bad — but you’re about to get something worse.While there’s no agreed end-date to tracking cookies, there’s a likely next step. Google has teased a one-click solution for users to stop being tracked. Think of this as its equivalent to App Tracking Transparency deployed by Apple, which gave Meta and others a serious bloody nose. But Google doesn’t need tracking cookies itself. It almost certainly knows who you are because you hold one of its accounts.And so as cookies give way to a “please don’t track me” global prompt, Google will have to convince the marketing industry it hasn’t gained a huge advantage at their expense. But it’s not all bad news for the wider ecosystem. If tracking cookies are controversial, they’re nothing compared to digital fingerprinting, and the industry is about to get back this favored tracking tool that’s been banned for years.Digital fingerprinting combines multiple user data signals collected on device, building a profile that transcends websites to identify you and everything you like and are likely to buy. Even Google has slammed this tracking in the past, warning it “subverts user choice and is wrong.” Somewhat surprisingly then, it’s about to return. And this time it will move beyond the web to the smart devices you own. Tracking you everywhere.Google has two arguments for bringing back digital fingerprinting and allowing it to be used across devices rather than just web browsers. First is the “broader range of surfaces on which ads are served.” This means TVs, gaming consoles, and other smart devices in and out of your home. Second it says, are privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) that unlock “new ways for brands to manage and activate their data safely and securely,” while “giving people the privacy protections they expect.”The UK data regulator strongly disagrees. “Fingerprinting involves the collection of pieces of information about a device’s software or hardware, which, when combined, can uniquely identify a particular device and user,” it says, warning this “is not a fair means of tracking users online because it is likely to reduce people’s choice and control over how their information is collected. The change to Google’s policy means that fingerprinting could now replace the functions of third-party cookies.”On the cookie front, some new analysis has just turned up courtesy of Ad Exchanger’s weekly podcast. “If you’ve been lucky enough to go hours, days or weeks without hearing the word cookie,” they suggest, “time to reset your clock to zero, because we have a sliver of an update for you about Google Chrome’s plans to create consent in its browser. ” This is the global “don’t track me” prompt that will likely see users disable web tracking across the board, once and universally. It will be heavily scrutinized by regulators as regards its impact on the industry.You will be tracked“I do think that creating this [global prompt] isn’t easy because it’s not just a question of asking people, yes or no, because there are competition concerns here. People have to be informed about the choice they’re making. The language can’t be biased or it shouldn’t be biased. How do you express nuance and a prompt that someone is going to look at for one second? And it’s not just a privacy thing. It is a competition thing. So Google has to thread a needle here,” Ad Exchanger noted, adding that “it’s a matter of producing something that satisfies competition regulators and privacy regulators and the industry and consumers, and it’s not an easy thing. So as much as I do like to make fun of how long this is taking, I do concede that.”This change of digital fingerprinting policy is now just 10 days away. From February 16th, the rules are relaxed and the data tracking industry can enjoy newfound freedoms as you lose yours. The regulator warns that “fingerprinting relies on signals that you cannot easily wipe. So, even if you ‘clear all site data’, the organisation using fingerprinting techniques could immediately identify you again. This is not transparent and cannot easily be controlled. Fingerprinting is harder for browsers to block and therefore, even privacy-conscious users will find this difficult to stop.”This combines into a lot of moving parts for digital tracking, and so the UK regulator has just issued a strategy to “level the playing field for online tracking in 2025.” It’s a sound and laudable vision for what happens next, but with tracking cookies and digital fingerprinting still here, we wish them the best of luck.“Online tracking is a part of everyday digital life,” the ICO says. “It enables personalized advertising, funds many free services and shapes our online experiences. But when it isn’t done responsibly, harm can occur. For example, gambling addicts may be targeted with betting ads based on their browsing record – with no easy way to block them,” adding that “the vision is clear: a fair and transparent online world where people are given meaningful control over how they are tracked online. It is imperative that individuals can trust the digital services they use and make informed choices about how their information is used.”Fortunately for Google, those worried about tracking have been distracted by its controversial decision to disappear its self-imposed restrictions on AI surveillance. And so while Ad Exchanger expects “the CMA will get to approve the proposed mechanism and then maybe they’ll there’ll be a feedback period because the CMA has this tendency to ask the industry to share feedback on stuff back and forth, back and forth,” the shorter term digital fingerprinting tracking milestone on February 16th will likely come and go with little fuss.But if you do care about such things, you have been warned. From that date, Google will be “less prescriptive with partners in how they target and measure ads” across “the broader range of surfaces on which ads are served (such as Connected TVs and gaming consoles).” Something to bear in mind.One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts. Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space.In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site’s Terms of Service. We’ve summarized some of those key rules below. Simply put, keep it civil.Your post will be rejected if we notice that it seems to contain:User accounts will be blocked if we notice or believe that users are engaged in:So, how can you be a power user?Thanks for reading our community guidelines. Please read the full list of posting rules found in our site’s Terms of Service.
