https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/07/google_privacy_sandbox/
Thu 7 Sep 2023 // 21:08 UTC
Excerpt:
"Google's Privacy Sandbox is now open for business, the search
advertising behemoth said today.
Specifically, the web giant's Privacy Sandbox APIs, a set of ad
delivery and analysis technologies, now function in the latest version
of the Chrome browser. Website developers can thus write code that
calls those APIs to deliver and measure ads to visitors with
compatible browsers.
That is to say, sites can ask Chrome directly what kinds of topics
you're interested in ? topics automatically selected by Chrome from
your browsing history ? so that ads personalized to your activities
can be served. This is supposed to be better than being tracked via third-party cookies, support for which is being phased out. There are
other aspects to the sandbox that we'll get to."
"Frank Slootweg" <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote
| Not to defend Google, but trying to be objective and fair:
|
| This 'feature' was *announced* in Chrome when it was released and the
| relevant settings ('Ad privacy' (under the 'Privavy and security' tab))
| were automatically shown and could be changed. I don't remenber which
| ones -if any - were on by default, I just turned all three off ('Ad
| topics', 'Site-suggested ads' and 'Ad measurement').
That's the excuse they all use. "What? You can block cookies
in IE by just going to Tools -> Internet Options -> Privacy ->
Advanced. " They know perfectly well that 95% of people
don't even know about settings. Of the people who do, very
few will be able to understand the implications, even if they ever
learn that Google has done this.
Google are making the system default and phasing out
3rd party cookies.
| Not to defend Google, but trying to be objective and fair:
Google are making the system default and phasing outActually, most people are unlikely to have any problems with their
3rd party cookies. Most people will never have any inkling about
any of this, though some may scratch their heads when a
site stops working because it required 3rd-party cookies. Most
people don't even know what a browser is. They click the
button on their computer that shows them the Internet.
What OS do they have? "OS? It's the computer. The one that
has the Internet."
These two can't be blocked no matter what...
"John Smith" <invalid@invalid.net> wrote
These two can't be blocked no matter what...
Then why are you so upset about me doing it? There
are actually other people who think regulation of sleazy
tech companies, and an expectation of privacy, are
not paranoid ideas. It's called Europe.
I think of it as generally analogous to Bell Telephone.
Bell had patents on phones. They controlled the market
and kept prices high. The only choice was to rent a phone
from them. Phones couldn't be bought. Finally they got
broken up and today we have more options, because phones
are now a ubiquitous utility.
In the same way, we're living through a similar transition.
A few companies have managed to create lucrative
monopolies, based on an outdated idea that they're crucial
innovators, but computing and the Internet are too
important to let private, for-profit companies own them.
Most people don't see that yet because they just want
convenience, so they make up lazy excuses: "Oh, you
can't stop all this spying anyway, so you're paranoid if
you try." But some are starting to think about what the
public utility of the information superhighway should look
like. Scandals like Cambridge Analytica making Brexit happen,
and Russian Facebook posts pushing Trump, have made
some people think twice.
In the 2016 election, Eric
Schmidt actually offered a deal to Hillary Clinton to virtually
give her the election by targetting voters individually, using
the Google spyware database. If you don't think that's a
problem that free citizens should care about then maybe
you don't deserve to live in a democracy.
http://www.itwire.com/government-tech-policy/75531-google-s-schmidt-drew-up-draft-plan-for-clinton-in-2014.html
(That page is now gone, but if you're curious you can try
archive.org or do a search. History doesn't last long in the
information age, ironically.)
It's really very simple: Google, Apple, Zuck and Microsoft
don't own your computer, or the Internet, and there's no
reason to give it to them. So I share information to help
people help themselves. Sorry if I interrupted your shopping.
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