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How to turn off Google's "privacy sandbox" ad tracking, and why you should

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Re: How to turn off Google's "privacy sandbox" ad tracking, and why you should

#21

I know I appear to be in the minority here, but I trust google to categorize and share my "interests" more than I do random websites (plus, I use enough Google products that they have that info anyway), and I prefer targeted ads to totally irrelevant ones (like the garbage ads on twitter). I'll be leaving this on, since it doesn't have any tangible negative impact.

Based on the rubbish ads I get on YouTube on my phone I don’t think google are in any place to know what my interest even are.

5 years ago I used to get adverts for things like films which I would often watch the whole way through. Today I get adverts for phones and Chromebook. It’s like google are unable to sell adverts that actually target me and instead just throw their own rubbish I have no interest in, and even if I did they are not using the right features (I think they said that a Chromebook can run something by adobe? A company I haven’t run any tools from for about 20 years).

I guess they don’t have much data on me as I don’t do google other than YT and sometimes maps on the desktop, but the adverts aren’t even based on the types of youtube videos I watch, they feel like very generic adverts for products I don’t want.

Re: How to turn off Google's "privacy sandbox" ad tracking, and why you should

#22

If you care at all about privacy and the future of a free Internet, this really should be that watershed moment that makes you take your head out of the sand. Seriously. Uninstall Chrome today and switch to something else. It’s only if enough people do it that they lose their grip and influence.

Also, switch to something non-Chromium if at all possible.

Which brings us in the paradoxical situation that if you want there to be any choice left at all in browsers then you're pretty much forced to choose firefox.

Re: How to turn off Google's "privacy sandbox" ad tracking, and why you should

#23

If you care at all about privacy and the future of a free Internet, this really should be that watershed moment that makes you take your head out of the sand. Seriously. Uninstall Chrome today and switch to something else. It’s only if enough people do it that they lose their grip and influence.

I’m far more worried about attestation features that will force you to use the browser sites want you to use than I am about any browser-specific targeting “feature.”

Re: How to turn off Google's "privacy sandbox" ad tracking, and why you should

#24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does a "free" internet look like without ads? Serious question, because right now ads pay for a lot. Ads are why we have reddit and twitter - two sites that I think a lot of people like. Ads are why I could run a wordpress blog as a young student. If you assume "the current internet is good, but we want to improve privacy" what Google is doing makes sense. Advertisers can still say "ok that person likes cars I'l…

They're not talking about free as in no monetary cost, they're talking about free as in freedom. Google has enough market share that they can just make their own standards and everyone else just follows. I have repeatedly come across sites that don't even test on Firefox because Chrome is just the default now. If you don't want to be cornered into a single option that invades your privacy, now is the time to pay atte…

I know what they're saying. I'm asking what the internet is going to look like when there's no advertising, and I'm pointing out what advertising currently allows for.

> Google has enough market share that they can just make their own standards and everyone else just follows

What does that have to do with privacy or advertising?

> invades your privacy

I'm comfortable with a company seeing " likes cars" tbh

Re: How to turn off Google's "privacy sandbox" ad tracking, and why you should

#25

I'm still hoping there will exist an extension to poison it with random categories and random measurement.

There already is a 5% chance that you will send a random category to a site for an epoch.

Unfortunately the 5% noise can be easily bypassed by advertisers: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2306.03825.pdf

Re: How to turn off Google's "privacy sandbox" ad tracking, and why you should

#26

as an infrequent chrome user I got the 'your ad privacy has been enhanced' page when I started it up it didn't feel like my ad privacy had been enhanced

>it didn't feel like my ad privacy had been enhanced You're using the product of a company who's main business is selling ads, what privacy are you expecting to get? That's like using McDonald's & Coca-Cola for the school cafeteria catering service and expecting to get a heathy and nutritious meal.

Our enhanced sandwiches have 1/3 the lead content as before.

Re: How to turn off Google's "privacy sandbox" ad tracking, and why you should

#27

If you care at all about privacy and the future of a free Internet, this really should be that watershed moment that makes you take your head out of the sand. Seriously. Uninstall Chrome today and switch to something else. It’s only if enough people do it that they lose their grip and influence.

What does a "free" internet look like without ads? Serious question, because right now ads pay for a lot. Ads are why we have reddit and twitter - two sites that I think a lot of people like. Ads are why I could run a wordpress blog as a young student. If you assume "the current internet is good, but we want to improve privacy" what Google is doing makes sense. Advertisers can still say "ok that person likes cars I'l…

You can do ads without tracking.

Re: How to turn off Google's "privacy sandbox" ad tracking, and why you should

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're not talking about free as in no monetary cost, they're talking about free as in freedom. Google has enough market share that they can just make their own standards and everyone else just follows. I have repeatedly come across sites that don't even test on Firefox because Chrome is just the default now. If you don't want to be cornered into a single option that invades your privacy, now is the time to pay atte…

I know what they're saying. I'm asking what the internet is going to look like when there's no advertising, and I'm pointing out what advertising currently allows for. > Google has enough market share that they can just make their own standards and everyone else just follows What does that have to do with privacy or advertising? > invades your privacy I'm comfortable with a company seeing " likes cars" tbh

You set up a false equivalence. Why is the choice between these kinds of features, which lock Google in as the sole controller of online advertising, and no advertising?

Re: How to turn off Google's "privacy sandbox" ad tracking, and why you should

#29

If you care at all about privacy and the future of a free Internet, this really should be that watershed moment that makes you take your head out of the sand. Seriously. Uninstall Chrome today and switch to something else. It’s only if enough people do it that they lose their grip and influence.

I stopped using Chrome in all my personal stuff years ago, but its getting harder and harder to find a browser not based on Chrome.

My work? Yeah, they switched from Firefox to Chrome since Chrome updated their license faster. If you want to get FF installed on your laptop now, it takes an act of congress. Even as a developer you have to go through a process to get it installed; they discourage it that much. You also get a FF version that is about 4 versions older than the current stable version.

Re: How to turn off Google's "privacy sandbox" ad tracking, and why you should

#30

I know I appear to be in the minority here, but I trust google to categorize and share my "interests" more than I do random websites (plus, I use enough Google products that they have that info anyway), and I prefer targeted ads to totally irrelevant ones (like the garbage ads on twitter). I'll be leaving this on, since it doesn't have any tangible negative impact.

Twitter still tries to target ads to you. It's just that right now, major brands are not buying ads on the site.
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