Google Chrome Users Won’t Be Saying Goodbye To Tracking Cookies After All
Consumers and privacy advocates are expressing their disappointment.
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Subscribe for free to get more stories like this directly to your inboxFor a certain “Sesame Street” monster, cookies are always a welcome treat. For billions of internet users around the world, however, they represent a significant loss of online privacy.
And Google seemed to understand this fact, promising its popular Chrome web browser would be eliminating third-party tracking cookies from its system. But those plans have changed.
If you use Chrome to browse the internet, here’s what that means for you.
A little background
Google initially touted its so-called Privacy Sandbox as a way to satisfy users and activists who want enhanced privacy without alienating the advertisers who rely on personal data to deliver targeted ads.
On the surface, the tech giant’s vow to eliminate cookies sounded like a promising step in the right direction, but now Google is taking a conspicuous step back from that goal. Instead of removing those trackers, it now says users will have the option to establish their own privacy settings.
“This shows Google still prioritizes advertisers over user privacy,” asserted one privacy advocate. “Users must take control of their privacy settings to protect themselves.”
Regulators who have been cracking down on Google’s privacy policies haven’t yet decided whether they’re OK with the newest proposal.
Critics and competitors react
Apple is a chief rival to Google and has built a reputation for prioritizing user privacy. As such, it has capitalized on this ongoing debate to portray its Safari browser as a superior Chrome alternative.
Safari (as well as Firefox) have been blocking third-party cookies for several years.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has also weighed in, advising that Google’s compromise doesn’t address concerns about advertisers gaining access to the online behavior of Chrome users.
Providing users with customizable privacy settings might be better than nothing — but it’s clearly not as much as competitors are willing to do.
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