Google is Exploring an Alternative to Cookies for Ad Tracking • Hacker News Board

Re: Google is Exploring an Alternative to Cookies for Ad Tracking

#21

Post by alecsmart1 » Sun, Oct 06, 2013, 1:44 PM UTC

mrweasel wrote: post #10

Kiro wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then that's the problem for you, not the problem in general.

You're most likely right, in that most people don't care about being tracked, but Google still isn't solving the basic problem, they are just working around the cookie restrictions. The focus should be on making a profit, while respecting peoples privacy.

I honestly don't mind being tracked. I don't know if it's just me but I prefer targeted advertising than just generic one. It's always more relevant and I do end up purchasing. Without tracking, there would be no targeted advertising.

Re: Google is Exploring an Alternative to Cookies for Ad Tracking

#22

Post by lnanek2 » Sun, Oct 06, 2013, 1:48 PM UTC

eps wrote: post #15

I bet that this is a preventive PR diversion for something else. Google is anything but stupid. Given current post-Snowden climate they surely realize that something as obnoxiuos as built-in browser tracking is going to raise a storm of discontent. But they have decided to realize this information anyway. So they let this stew a little and suggest some alternative, probably as nasty, but it will look mild in comparis…

Releasing this information is bad for their consumer uptake, but good for their advertising business, and their advertising business is where they make all their money.

When it comes down to it for consumers, they'll just make it optional to help with complaints, and the masses will never dig down into their preferences to turn it off, so it won't matter that it is optional as far as advertisers are concerned.

Re: Google is Exploring an Alternative to Cookies for Ad Tracking

#23

Post by oellegaard » Sun, Oct 06, 2013, 1:48 PM UTC

duvet wrote: post #16

fear91 wrote: post #3

I've used chrome because it was faster than Firefox ( and didn't crash so often ). I've switched to Firefox a few weeks ago and couldn't be happier. It seems that all the stability issues were resolved. I urge everyone to do the same.

I did the same a few months ago. I hesitated to move because I was put off by Firefox's design but I found UX Nightly[1]. A few bugs here and there because it is a nightly build but overall smooth. [1] https://people.mozilla.org/~jwein/ux-nightly/

What is this UX nightly thing exactly? Is it a fork or the actual future layout?

Re: Google is Exploring an Alternative to Cookies for Ad Tracking

#24

Post by lnanek2 » Sun, Oct 06, 2013, 1:51 PM UTC

teh wrote: post #6

Does anyone know how the IDs can be anonymous? What's stopping anyone from associating the ID (presumably sent as a header?) with an account on my site? Is it maybe like an OTP based where google and chrome generate a new ID for every request, opaque to the intermediary but google can correlate them later?

In Apple's system, at least, each app gets a different ID for the same user. So supposedly you can't track a user across sites/apps since the user will have a different ID for each.

Re: Google is Exploring an Alternative to Cookies for Ad Tracking

#25

Post by pimeys » Sun, Oct 06, 2013, 1:58 PM UTC

fear91 wrote: post #3

I've used chrome because it was faster than Firefox ( and didn't crash so often ). I've switched to Firefox a few weeks ago and couldn't be happier. It seems that all the stability issues were resolved. I urge everyone to do the same.

I've been using Firefox as my main browser for a couple of years now. It's really getting better in every build. And Vimperator is not available for Chrome. Nowadays my biggest reason to stay with Firefox is that I trust Mozilla more than I trust Google.

Re: Google is Exploring an Alternative to Cookies for Ad Tracking

#26

Post by sayhello » Sun, Oct 06, 2013, 1:58 PM UTC

This is not news. The article is about 2 weeks old and seems vague about details.

There are more articles on the topic on the net. This identifier has been dubbed "AdID". Read more here: http://m.spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/telecom/internet/google...

Re: Google is Exploring an Alternative to Cookies for Ad Tracking

#27

Post by ceejayoz » Sun, Oct 06, 2013, 1:58 PM UTC

lnanek2 wrote: post #24

teh wrote: post #6

Does anyone know how the IDs can be anonymous? What's stopping anyone from associating the ID (presumably sent as a header?) with an account on my site? Is it maybe like an OTP based where google and chrome generate a new ID for every request, opaque to the intermediary but google can correlate them later?

In Apple's system, at least, each app gets a different ID for the same user. So supposedly you can't track a user across sites/apps since the user will have a different ID for each.

I believe it's each set of apps from the same developer. Apple's developer docs say the device identifier changes if a user deletes all of your apps, not just the current one.

Re: Google is Exploring an Alternative to Cookies for Ad Tracking

#28

Post by duvet » Sun, Oct 06, 2013, 2:00 PM UTC

alecsmart1 wrote: post #19

duvet wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did the same a few months ago. I hesitated to move because I was put off by Firefox's design but I found UX Nightly[1]. A few bugs here and there because it is a nightly build but overall smooth. [1] https://people.mozilla.org/~jwein/ux-nightly/

You can download from: http://nightly.mozilla.org

That isn't the same build. Those are features that don't focus on the UX or the design. I think that build is labeled Aurora? I could be mistaken. UX Nightly includes those features but it is focused on user experience.

Re: Google is Exploring an Alternative to Cookies for Ad Tracking

#29

Post by borplk » Sun, Oct 06, 2013, 2:03 PM UTC

fear91 wrote: post #3

I've used chrome because it was faster than Firefox ( and didn't crash so often ). I've switched to Firefox a few weeks ago and couldn't be happier. It seems that all the stability issues were resolved. I urge everyone to do the same.

does the scrolling feel a bit weird on Firefox? to me it felt a bit too smooth or animated

Re: Google is Exploring an Alternative to Cookies for Ad Tracking

#30

Post by duvet » Sun, Oct 06, 2013, 2:05 PM UTC

oellegaard wrote: post #23

duvet wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did the same a few months ago. I hesitated to move because I was put off by Firefox's design but I found UX Nightly[1]. A few bugs here and there because it is a nightly build but overall smooth. [1] https://people.mozilla.org/~jwein/ux-nightly/

What is this UX nightly thing exactly? Is it a fork or the actual future layout?

It is building towards an actual future layout. IIRC, once the changes are stable enough they're pushed to the main nightly builds.

Edit: Sorry, I was unclear, it is an official branch and not just a personal fork.

Some links: http://msujaws.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/mozillas-ux-nightly-... https://wiki.mozilla.org/UX_Branch