Google's Privacy Sandbox initiative wont save you from web tracking

Date:
Wed, 15 Feb 2023 11:08:35 +0000

Description:
Googles new toolset has a flashy title, but ultimately, youre still the product.

FULL STORY ======================================================================

True to its word , Google has officially launched a beta of its Privacy Sandbox, a growing set of disparate initiatives designed to anonymise data tracking without wholly preventing it.

Per the landing page for the release (via Gizmodo ), the core tenets of Privacy Sandbox include eliminating the sharing of cookie data between websites, and processing data on-device but away from apps and external servers, restricting their access to that data.

The company is implementing limits on fingerprinting (the creation of data designed to identify a user) and the access spurious advertising platforms have to data belonging to an individual. However, its important to note Googles Privacy Sandbox is not looking to revolutionize or even antagonize
the online advertising industry. Googles Privacy Sandbox

Yes, users will still be tracked under the Privacy Sandbox, because Google intends to establish a system to use patterns within an individual's data to create a vague profile of their personality.

This would mark someone out, for example, as a sports fan" or "bingewatcher", to advertisers, without sharing specific identifying data with them, so they can still be served with targeted ads.

This cybersecurity concept, generally known as differential privacy, is certainly better than ad and social media platforms creating dossiers on
users whether they consent to that or not, and its good that such a system is being brought to a mainstream tech platform.

But if the idea of personal data being leveraged in any way sounds disconcerting, consider looking into free privacy tools , like browser extensions that stamp out ads and trackers such as uBlock Origin and Decentraleyes . Read more

Google to stop Android VPN apps blocking ads

Surfshark to make users' tracking "twice as hard" thanks to new VPN

feature

Weve also listed the best business VPNs right now

However, there are some things Google is trying to achieve with the Privacy Sandbox, which is still in active development, that make it a project worth keeping an eye on.

For instance, apps on Chromebooks or Android phones could run faster because of changes to the way data is processed on those devices, and Google seems committed to preventing covert tracking, so that if users are being tracked, they know about it. Heres our list of the best proxies available right now



======================================================================
Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/googles-privacy-sandbox-initiative-wont-save-yo u-from-web-tracking


--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 (Linux/64)
* Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100)