Date:
July 23, 2024
The world, including big tech giants like Apple, has been waiting for Google to remove its tracking cookies. But that does not seem to be happening at all.
Google has evidently dominated the advertising industry through its robust tools and extremely pervasive tracking cookies technology. However, the recent upgrades in global privacy compliance by various regulatory bodies have brought the tracking cookies into a controversial light. Apple has emerged lately as Google’s archnemesis in this regard, fighting on the front to end the trackers.
Google, along with other companies that track online user behavior, had pledged to discontinue such practices to improve user privacy. But the tech giant has taken a sharp U-turn with its latest official announcement. This approach strengthens the outlook that Google is committed to profits over privacy.
The announcement made on July 22 said, “We are proposing an updated approach that elevates user choice. Instead of deprecating third-party cookies, we would introduce a new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their web browsing.”
This simply means that all the 3 billion Google Chrome users will get to make a choice, irrespective of the fact that they will still be tracked in some way. The choices you get are between tracking cookies, Google’s semi-anonymous Topics API, and its semi-private browsing. You can change your preference at any time, though.
However, the decision has not been finalized yet. Google is actively discussing with regulators to understand the feasibility and acceptance of the new tracking policies. If a middle ground is reached, something good may happen for the Chrome users. If it doesn’t, the tech giant will continue its dreading tracking tech without any repercussions.
Apple is fed up with the fact that Google has escaped the consequences of its over-invasive tracking technology. Even though Apple has created enough walls to not let Google Chrome dominate its users, Google Chrome still exists in over 30% of Apple users’ devices due to its universal features. Safari and Firefox have disabled cookies tracking years ago, and Google also promised a similar stance, which it never implied on.
