Opting Your Website Out of Google's FLoC Network • Hacker News Board

Re: Opting Your Website Out of Google's FLoC Network

#261

Post by weinzierl » Mon, Apr 19, 2021, 7:59 AM UTC

lupire wrote: post #192

weinzierl wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "[..] use my visitors data for advertising and surveillance [..]" ..and to improve a search engine empire that is arguably the basis for the majority of their ad business and which is already a factual monopoly. If you successfully avoided giving Google your visitor traffic data so far (by passively avoiding Google analytics, fonts, maps, etc.) then from now on you will have to take active steps to keep their finge…

How do you passively avoid Google analytics,fonts, maps? How is "not using Chrome" not passive?

I meant that you have to do something to use Google Analytics, Fonts, etc. If you do nothing you don't give data to Google. With FLoC this changes. If you do nothing you are complicit in sending your user data to Google. If you want to avoid it you actively have to add a header to your site.

Re: Opting Your Website Out of Google's FLoC Network

#262

Post by jimmont » Mon, Apr 19, 2021, 7:49 PM UTC

dannyw wrote: post #15

Let me get this straight: even if my site has no ads or trackers, Chrome will now use my visitors data for advertising and surveillance??? Does anyone else see FLoC as worse than the current state we're in?

I do not currently see it as worse and in fact I see it as better. If Google becomes the boundary behind which my information is shielded they are also the target for accountability. They generally seem a preferred option for this role relative to the others in the market (the little I know much about it). Further this seems a general good fit for their capabilities, business goals and role in society broadly, which is a position counter to the assertions the EFF appears to make. My position and argument is that Google should do what they are naturally doing and be held accountable for sensible privacy, etc by the law and watch that evolve. This seems both fair leverage of their market position and sensible use of it. Competition is freely able to develop their own niche, as is Brave and anyone else able to do. (For example why Mozilla hasn't developed VPN services, etc sooner is beyond me.) Hope this is constructive.

Re: Opting Your Website Out of Google's FLoC Network

#263

Post by int_19h » Tue, Apr 20, 2021, 4:31 AM UTC

jefftk wrote: post #208

int_19h wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Reducing the amount of third-party tracking cookies on the web Why would anyone care about that, as opposed to, you know, reducing the amount of tracking ?

FLoC does reduce tracking: instead of many third parties building a thorough picture of your activity server-side, your page-level activity stays in the browser. Which already needs to know that, so it can maintain your history and turn links purple. Only the aggregated "cohort" is available to sites. (Disclosure: I work on ads at Google, speaking only for myself)

Blocking third-party cookies without replacing them with FLoC reduces tracking much more efficiently.

Re: Opting Your Website Out of Google's FLoC Network

#264

Post by JetSpiegel » Wed, Apr 28, 2021, 9:43 AM UTC

ehsankia wrote: post #229

jedwhite wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As noted by Consumer Reports: "When third-party cookies are replaced by FLoC, Google will have a way to track consumers that isn’t available to other companies, which could give Google a steep advantage in the advertising business." [1] According to the EFF, Google controls the algorithms, and will also be running its implementation and auditing its outputs, a task the EFF describes as "both orwellian and sisyphean".…

> that isn’t available to other companies Is there a proof for this claim? My understanding is that the cohort you belong to is available to any page. Is that not true?

> My understanding is that the cohort you belong to is available to any page. Is that not true?

Chrome is closed source, do you trust Google?