Google Chrome to emulate Apple's Safari ad-tracking privacy ethos

Future versions of Google Chrome will stop supporting ad-tracking cookies, and instead, the company will implement privacy features in the browser similar to Apple's iOS 14 plans.

Google has reaffirmed its previous plan to remove ad-tracking cookies from Chrome by 2022, and said it will go further to create "a more privacy-first web." It follows Apple's blocking of cookies in Safari in 2020, and will follow the Cupertino company's iOS 14 privacy features.

"If digital advertising doesn't evolve to address the growing concerns people have about their privacy and how their personal identity is being used, we risk the future of the free and open web," writes David Temkin, Google's Director of Product Management, Ads Privacy and Trust, in a blog post.

Temkin says that despite Google previously announcing it would cease supporting ad cookies, "we continue to get questions."

"Today, we're making explicit that once third-party cookies are phased out, we will not build alternate identifiers to track individuals as they browse across the web, nor will we use them in our products," he says.

Google does not, though, make it explicit when this will happen, nor specify precisely when Chrome will introduce these privacy features. Temkin also avoids mentioning Apple. Instead, he refers to "others in the ad tech industry who plan to replace third-party cookies with alternative user-level identifiers."

Google has previously told developers that it will conform to Apple's App Tracking Transparency plan. Rather than relying on the previous Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA), it will work with Apple's new privacy-focused ad-tracking frameworks.

26 Comments

rob53 3307 comments · 13 Years

About 3 years ago

I’ll believe it when I see it.

Been seeing ads on my iPhone for a Duck-Duck-Go browser so I downloaded it. Works like the Safari ad-on on macOS. Wonder if Google is seeing this as more competition for iOS browsers.

mobird 758 comments · 20 Years

DuckDuckGo has been used on my iPhones for a very long time and is now able to be my default browser. The folks at DDG are basically in lock step with Apple's privacy initiatives and have been since their inception.

rob53 said:

I’ll believe it when I see it.
Been seeing ads on my iPhone for a Duck-Duck-Go browser so I downloaded it. Works like the Safari ad-on on macOS. Wonder if Google is seeing this as more competition for iOS browsers.

rotateleftbyte 1630 comments · 12 Years

Google Taketh and Google Giveth. The former is always larger than the latter.

As has been said, "I'll believe it when I see it".

They (Google) won't be giving up all this lovely data that the get from cookies without having at least the same amount slurped by other means already in place.

Just avoid anything to do with Google if possible. Make them work really hard for the data that they steal from us. Don't give it to them on a plate.

gatorguy 24603 comments · 13 Years

rotateleftbyte said:

Google Taketh and Google Giveth. The former is always larger than the latter.
As has been said, "I'll believe it when I see it".

They (Google) won't be giving up all this lovely data that the get from cookies without having at least the same amount slurped by other means already in place.
Just avoid anything to do with Google if possible. Make them work really hard for the data that they steal from us. Don't give it to them on a plate.

The article implies Google will be going further with their browser privacy initiatives than even Apple. There's apparently a lot involved with the Privacy-First Web and Privacy Sandbox initiatives.

rotateleftbyte said:

Google Taketh and Google Giveth. The former is always larger than the latter.
As has been said, "I'll believe it when I see it".

They (Google) won't be giving up all this lovely data that the get from cookies without having at least the same amount slurped by other means already in place.
Just avoid anything to do with Google if possible. Make them work really hard for the data that they steal from us. Don't give it to them on a plate.

"Today, we’re making explicit that once third-party cookies are phased out, we will not build alternate identifiers to track individuals as they browse across the web, nor will we use them in our products."

The articles' link to the source blog post may not be obvious so you may not have read it.
https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/a-more-privacy-first-web/