Update of March 05, 2021:
Google continues its path to meet the expectations of users by confidentiality . According to our source: BDM , Google continues to move forward on its project “ Privacy Sandbox “.
This aims to delete third-party cookies to preserve the confidentiality of the personal data of Internet users. It also offers new viable methods to satisfy advertisers.
Once deleted third-party cookies, any form of individual tracking of Internet users will be stopped.
What about the side of advertisers who want to be able to continue a precise targeting of their Ads ads? Tests with advertisers in Google ads will be started during the 2nd quarter.
Google highlights several alternatives: Aggregation, anonymization, local or “on device” processing of data.
Google is now focusing its efforts on a targeting proposal by group ( FLoC , Federated Learning of Cohorts):
“Our latest tests on FloC have also shown that it is possible to remove third-party cookies from the advertising equation to produce effective advertisements, by instead hiding individuals within” cohorts “, that is to say say large groups of Internet users sharing the same interests. “
Allowing to target collectively rather than individually, FLOcs are based on browsing histories and similar interests of groups of Internet users.
Cookies, why are they there?
More and more, when you browse the web, sites ask you to “ accept cookies »… but what is it exactly Internet cookies ?
Small pieces of text inserted in your browser, they were originally a service developed to simplify the interaction between the site and the Internet user and obtain a best use by making the more intuitive site.
Greatly facilitating your surfing the Internet , they personalize your web experience and allows your usual sites to recognize you in order to directly offer you more personalized content.
By recording your search habits, the sites can therefore adapt to you and cookies save you time by saving your data so you don’t have to re-enter it each time you use it.
Cookies, a double-edged sword?
As you have understood correctly, cookies collect and store private information about you and your online activities.
Not very transparent, the sites that use them can therefore follow your browsing actions: what are you reading? what item do you spend time on? or again: what makes you click on a link …
All of these valuable information are collected by the sites and the methods to collect them are increasingly restrictive and sophisticated, so much so that Internet users no longer know what they can or must accept without compromise the security of their confidential data.
Once all the data is recovered, the sites combine it and therefore can better target their ads and potentially sell you even more products or services.
Age, sex, location … search engines as well as websites record a multitude of confidential data.
The different categories of cookies
All cookies do not have the same purpose and are not all necessary to optimize the time you spend on the Internet .
There are 5 categories of cookies:
- Performance cookies : they collect information about how users use the site.
- Strictly necessary cookies : they are essential for users to navigate the site and to use its functions.
- Privacy cookies : they can be used to allow the site to remember the choices made by users and to provide optimized and personalized features.
- Marketing cookies : used to deliver advertisements more relevant to users and their interests.
- Other cookies (third-party cookies): Safari (Apple) and Firefox browsers block third-party cookies by default, but they are still used by Chrome, which represents 63% of the market in 2020, according to StatCounter .
The first 3 categories allow optimize your user experience . For the last 2 categories, the goal is clearly to collect personal information allowing ad targeting.
Cookies can be said “ persistent ” or “ session “.
Persistent cookies help websites remember your information and settings when you visit them in the future. This results in faster and more convenient access since, for example, you do not have to log in again.
Because web pages have no memory, a user moving from one page to another will be treated as a completely new visitor. Session cookies therefore allow the website you are visiting to track your movements so that you are not asked for the same information as that which you have already provided on the previous pages.
Google is looking for an alternative to Cookies
Google announced that he wanted to find a solution to do without cookies without altering the user experience.
Supposed to improve respect for the privacy of Internet users , the Californian group would like “ hide the user in the crowd ”So that their browsing history remains confidential in the browser.
This system was called: F ederated L earning o f VS ohorts ( FLoC ).
Instead of targeting each Internet user individually, websites will target audience segments: FLoCs , which will contain several hundred or even thousands of people having the same browsing habits.
Google , world market leader in paid web advertising , try to find an alternative: reassure public opinion , more and more skeptical of cookies, and satisfy its customers advertisers who wish to continue to have precise targeting of their advertisements.
Google plans to open tests of advertising purchases around this technology from the second quarter and wants the stop cookies for 2022.