This is a tool that should delete cookies. With its latest update, Google Chrome presents the “Privacy Sandbox”, implemented for more and more users. At first glance, the goal is to prevent third-party applications from tracking the online activity of browser users.
But if the tool is presented as a means to protect privacy, it is actually a witness transfer. From now on, cookies will no longer track your browsing, but rather Google Chrome directly. Therefore, in the name of protecting online privacy, the company itself is responsible for tracking your every move, details The Conversation.
In the presentation of “Privacy Sandbox”, the technology giant performs a balancing act. It indicates that its creation aims to protect the privacy of users, but also to guarantee the success of companies and developers. This last point translates into greater analysis of users’ browsing history to offer them increasingly personalized advertising.
Ban third-party cookies
Unlike cookies, Google’s tool analyzes your history. Instead of simply showing ads for pages already visited, the “Privacy Sandbox” deduces the topics that interest an Internet user. Therefore, Chrome serves ads on topics that it believes are most likely to generate engagement.
Google’s initiative is part of its desire to ban third-party cookies in its Chrome browser by the end of next year. These cookies are cookies integrated on millions of websites and managed by online advertising giants, such as Google, Facebook or TikTok, to offer targeted advertising to Internet users from their platform, according to their online habits.
During the summer, the CNIL, a privacy watchdog, recalled that the implementation of the “Privacy Sandbox” required obtaining consent to authorize the collection of data that would allow the history of each user to be analyzed.
Thus, the National Commission for Informatics and Liberties reminds that if Google’s conditions are accepted, it is still possible to block tracking by the tool. To do this, you must go to the software settings. The preferences can then be accessed from the “confidentiality and security” tab and then “Privacy Sandbox”.
As the feature is currently rolling out, the latter menu may not be available. But Internet users who have already participated in the experiment will be able to exit Google’s experiment.
Source: BFM TV
