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Google Chrome just rolled out a new way to track you and serve ads

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Re: Google Chrome just rolled out a new way to track you and serve ads

#311

Post by sphars »

paholg wrote: post #289
data-ottawa wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chrome Mobile is the largest reason I would not recommend an Android (specifically Pixel) device to friends or family. I bought one, and I found myself actively avoiding browsing the web on it. Even after installing Firefox you can’t get rid of the Google Chrome web search bar on the home screen, and in-app web views are Chrome, so you’re never really free from Chrome. I do understand the why of ads, and I’m okay wit…

I've been using Android since the G1. I don't think I've ever had the search bar on the home screen for more than a couple minutes after getting a new phone. My in-app web views are also in Firefox. I'm pretty sure just changing the default browser changes this, though there may be a second setting I'm forgetting about. This is actually my main sticking point on refusing to try iOs. You can't even install Firefox on…

The search bar on the home screen referenced by OP is a Pixel launcher exclusive, which is the default installed launcher on Pixel devices. You can't remove it. You can install an third-party launcher however. You can also use a widget provided by a browser app to put a search bar on the homescreen (all major browsers have such an option).

For the most part, my webviews are in FF (selected as my default browser), but it depends on what app launches the webview. Sometimes it defaults to Chrome.

Re: Google Chrome just rolled out a new way to track you and serve ads

#312

Post by oehpr »

... does this article seem a little low quality to anyone else?

> By far the most private browsers are specialist non-tracking browsers that prioritise no tracking, such as DuckDuckGo...

wha???

> Tracking technology can arguably benefit us as well. For example, it could be helpful if an online store reminds you every three months you need a new toothbrush, or that this time last year you bought a birthday card for your mum.

Wha?! The technology google is deploying wouldn't even support that. Frankly the level of personal invasion required to achieve this...

Was this just like a bit of biting sarcasm or something? Dry wit that flew over my head?

This article seems off.

Re: Google Chrome just rolled out a new way to track you and serve ads

#313

Post by datavirtue »

data-ottawa wrote: post #268
bjackman wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Chrome at work and Firefox on personal devices (including my Android phone). As a heavy user of both browsers, as far as I can see there is really no downside to Firefox. In fact, even though presumably there are way more engineers working on Chrome than on Firefox, I guess most of Chrome's engineering effort goes towards benefitting advertisers, not users. While Chrome seems entirely stagnant since I adopted i…

Chrome Mobile is the largest reason I would not recommend an Android (specifically Pixel) device to friends or family. I bought one, and I found myself actively avoiding browsing the web on it. Even after installing Firefox you can’t get rid of the Google Chrome web search bar on the home screen, and in-app web views are Chrome, so you’re never really free from Chrome. I do understand the why of ads, and I’m okay wit…

Duck Duck browser is my go-to. There is no downside at all. Sometimes I specifically use chrome...well, very rare.

Re: Google Chrome just rolled out a new way to track you and serve ads

#314

Post by mulmen »

swader999 wrote: post #263
mulmen wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that’s true. But fantasizing about hiring someone to spitefully stalk an actual specific person is especially creepy and unhealthy. I can call out that danger without supporting widespread user tracking.

Oh please, as if they were serious.

It’s unacceptable even as a “joke”.

Re: Google Chrome just rolled out a new way to track you and serve ads

#315

Post by sphars »

bad_user wrote: post #307
data-ottawa wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chrome Mobile is the largest reason I would not recommend an Android (specifically Pixel) device to friends or family. I bought one, and I found myself actively avoiding browsing the web on it. Even after installing Firefox you can’t get rid of the Google Chrome web search bar on the home screen, and in-app web views are Chrome, so you’re never really free from Chrome. I do understand the why of ads, and I’m okay wit…

Of course you can get rid of the "web search bar". Not sure what launcher the Pixel is using, as I have a Samsung device, but you can install a different launcher if needed. The in-app views can be Firefox by just setting it as the default browser. Lest we forget, at least Android has an actual Firefox implementation, versus iOS which does not. Not sure what you're talking about, but if you bumped into certain cases…

On Pixel devices, the default launcher is the Pixel launcher, and you can't remove the search bar on the homescreen. But like you said, you can install a different launcher.

Re: Google Chrome just rolled out a new way to track you and serve ads

#316

Post by [deleted] »

mulmen wrote: post #190
acidictadpole wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's less controversial but also not really relevant. Those kinds of reminders shouldn't be using cookies, and don't need to.

The part about tracking being arguably good is a separate paragraph that is clearly written in contrast to Google’s tracking. At no point does the article claim cookies are required for “good” automation.

[deleted]

Re: Google Chrome just rolled out a new way to track you and serve ads

#317

Post by datavirtue »

_chu1 wrote: post #231
lrem wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mozilla claims over 700 of their 750 employees work on Firefox. It's a bit harder to find out the number of people working on Chrome. The founding director remarks that there were 40 engineers working on Chrome mobile in https://mdwdotla.medium.com/some-thoughts-on-running-success... . That's obviously just a slice of the whole team. Search results suggest a range of numbers between 23 and 500. There appears to be ab…

I genuinely don't believe that 700 people work on Firefox because if that were true the quality would be much different and things would be done faster.

The main bottleneck to any parallel process is aggregation.

Re: Google Chrome just rolled out a new way to track you and serve ads

#318

Post by mulmen »

jasonjayr wrote: post #262
mulmen wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure but the stalker fantasy was targeting the author specifically and made no mention of the people actually doing the thing.

Sure, the stalker fantasy might be a bit on the nose. Having someone follow you around in a 'physical' sense seems kinda creepy. But; there is now the robot equivalent of a PI stalker in your browser. It's not a person, but it's still reporting all your browser activity. Except for the 'physical human', that seems like a pretty similar analogy, right? Because for me, it's equally creepy.

You can’t seriously consider an actual human being following you around to be the same as advertising tracking. Those aren’t the same and Google isn’t doing it to “prove a point”. The fantasy was clearly about intimidation in the real world of a real person.

You should really re-read the article. It does not support the change to Chrome or the tracking that Google does.

Re: Google Chrome just rolled out a new way to track you and serve ads

#319

Post by sphars »

datavirtue wrote: post #313
data-ottawa wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chrome Mobile is the largest reason I would not recommend an Android (specifically Pixel) device to friends or family. I bought one, and I found myself actively avoiding browsing the web on it. Even after installing Firefox you can’t get rid of the Google Chrome web search bar on the home screen, and in-app web views are Chrome, so you’re never really free from Chrome. I do understand the why of ads, and I’m okay wit…

Duck Duck browser is my go-to. There is no downside at all. Sometimes I specifically use chrome...well, very rare.

I use DDG's browser too, especially when I need to access site and don't care about cookies or saving history of that site (the private address generating feature is nice too).

On my Pixel, I use FF mainly, but also have DDG and Chrome (for Google-specific sites only).

Re: Google Chrome just rolled out a new way to track you and serve ads

#320

Post by jpadkins »

dspillett wrote: post #89
esteth wrote: post #36

Can anyone explain to me why this is worse than third-party cookies? *If* this lets chrome remove third-party cookies, doesn't it effectively increase your privacy by putting that tracking data on the user's machine instead of having random third-parties involved in every page load to harvest that tracking info? I understand that you can currently turn off third-party cookies, but a bunch of the internet breaks if yo…

> Can anyone explain to me why this is worse than third-party cookies? How about thinking the other way around: Can you, or anyone else for that matter, explain to me why this is better than commercial interests not following us around at all ? > turn off third-party cookies, but a bunch of the internet breaks if you do that Most of what breaks is just tracking for ad serving purposes. I'm fine with that breaking. So…

> Can you, or anyone else for that matter, explain to me why this is better than commercial interests not following us around at all?

Because people prefer free, ad supported content on the internet.

Once you accept that premise, then it's a matter of balancing privacy, volume of ads, and payments to creators (ad tech companies are going to get theirs). Do you think the majority of people would prefer fewer, better targeted / higher yielding ads as long as it is tracking them anonymously? Or more ads, with worse targeting? Or neither and less payments to creators?

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