{"id":26623,"date":"2019-09-17T16:09:41","date_gmt":"2019-09-17T20:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=26623"},"modified":"2019-09-17T16:09:41","modified_gmt":"2019-09-17T20:09:41","slug":"googles-privacy-sandbox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/17\/googles-privacy-sandbox\/","title":{"rendered":"Google’s Privacy Sandbox"},"content":{"rendered":"

Justin Schuh<\/a>:<\/p>\n

First, large scale blocking of cookies undermine people’s privacy by encouraging opaque techniques such as fingerprinting. With fingerprinting, developers have found ways to use tiny bits of information that vary between users, such as what device they have or what fonts they have installed to generate a unique identifier which can then be used to match a user across websites. Unlike cookies, users cannot clear their fingerprint, and therefore cannot control how their information is collected.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This has been<\/a> criticized<\/a> unfairly, I think. Mass cookie blocking really did start an arms race that led to fingerprinting. And now we can’t turn back the clock to when the old privacy techniques worked. He’s not saying that turning off cookie blocking will improve<\/em> your privacy; it’s a comment on the second order effects of everyone blocking them.<\/p>\n\n

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Second, blocking cookies without another way to deliver relevant ads significantly reduces publishers’ primary means of funding, which jeopardizes the future of the vibrant web.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

This part is also disputed<\/a>, the implication being that advertisers are vastly overpaying for targeting that doesn’t actually work. I suppose that’s possible, but I don’t find it intuitive.<\/p>\n\n

We want to find a solution that both really protects user privacy and also helps content remain freely accessible on the web. At I\/O, we announced a plan<\/a> to improve the classification of cookies, give clarity and visibility to cookie settings, as well as plans to more aggressively block fingerprinting. We are making progress on this, and today we are providing more details on our plans to restrict fingerprinting. Collectively we believe all these changes will improve transparency, choice, and control.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Bennett Cyphers<\/a>:<\/p>\n

But hidden behind the false equivalencies and privacy gaslighting<\/a> are a set of real technical proposals. Some are genuinely good ideas. Others could be unmitigated privacy disasters. This post will look at the specific proposals under Google’s new “Privacy Sandbox” umbrella and talk about what they would mean for the future of the web.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Of course, none of this is to say that Google isn’t also doing all sorts of stuff<\/a> to track you.<\/p>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n