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Google extends third party cookie deadline until late 2023

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Re: Google extends third party cookie deadline until late 2023

#41
post #36
post #14

> We believe the web community needs to come together to develop a set of open standards to fundamentally enhance privacy on the web, giving people more transparency and greater control over how their data is used. > In order to do this, we need to move at a responsible pace. This will allow sufficient time for public discussion on the right solutions, continued engagement with regulators, and for publishers and the…

news in the past two weeks has been of eu antitrust actions over issues including this 3rd party cookies change, and uk demanding their regulators get veto power over changing 3rd party cookies. google is trying to escape a colossal regulatory hellfire that has sprung up in the last two weeks over this attempt to do the right thing, that other browsers already do. shit has just gone defcon4 & they are adding time to…

Regulators aren’t concerned with Google blocking third party cookies, they’re concerned about it in conjunction with FLoC providing Google an anti-competitive moat in the adtech space where it also holds a dominant position.

If Google blocked third party cookies absent FLoC, regulators wouldn’t care.

Re: Google extends third party cookie deadline until late 2023

#42
post #21

So when a major regulatory authority forbids Chrome from proceeding with the third party cookie deprecation plan, what should Google do? Apparently the vast majority of HN commenters think that they should ignore the regulators, and just plow ahead. For some reason I imagine that if they actually were to ignore the regulators, the feedback from exactly the same commenters would not be positive.

At least make it abundantly clear why, and then sue the regulators.

Re: Google extends third party cookie deadline until late 2023

#43
post #21

So when a major regulatory authority forbids Chrome from proceeding with the third party cookie deprecation plan, what should Google do? Apparently the vast majority of HN commenters think that they should ignore the regulators, and just plow ahead. For some reason I imagine that if they actually were to ignore the regulators, the feedback from exactly the same commenters would not be positive.

I think they should deprecate Chrome or spin it off into another company. The issue here is monopoly. Also, regulators aren't upset about them blocking third party cookies, every other browser already does that. They're upset about Google's attempts to inject new Google-controlled tracking methods that grant them a further advantage at the cost of all their competitors. The answer is simple: Block third party cookies…

> Also, regulators aren't upset about them blocking third party cookies, every other browser already does that

As far as I can tell, that is untrue. CMA has explicitly stated concerns with any removal of third party cookies by default from Chrome, since they believe ad tech companies are dependent on them but Google isn't. Any new mechanisms introduced for privacy preserving ad targeting are irrelevant, except insofar that they could be used to satisfy the needs of said ad tech companies. That other browsers have been allowed to remove third party cookies by default is also irrelevant: the fact is still that Chrome is not being allowed to do so.

> I think they should deprecate Chrome

Oh, come on.

Re: Google extends third party cookie deadline until late 2023

#44
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chrome still lets you block third party cookies. Not with an extension or some low level tweak; it's just in the settings.

Is there a use case for third party cookies outside of ad tracking? I’ve had it disabled for years and don’t recall it breaking any website I actually care to use.

They're used for fraud prevention. How you're tracked is similar to ads, but the end goal isn't targeting ads better, it's preventing chargebacks.

Re: Google extends third party cookie deadline until late 2023

#46
post #10
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Drive itself uses third-party cookies. You can't download files from Google Drive without enabling them, for some reason.

Are you saying you can't download files from Google Drive in the default Safari configuration?

I don't use Safari or any AppleWare but I disable 3rd party cookies in Chrome and I can't download files from Google Drive unless I temporarily enable it.

Re: Google extends third party cookie deadline until late 2023

#47
post #37

Not defending cookies - but I just don't think most of the rest of the world cares . Outside of the tech bubble that really cares, I'm not sure I know a single non-tech person that, other than 'the popup', even knows what a cookie is (let alone gives a damn). 99% of my non-tech friends/relatives are just bored of 'the box thing that comes up every time you visit a website'. No one it them and everyone just clicks the…

Just because people don't understand the technical details doesn't mean they don't want the outcome. Like how 96% of iOS users asked apps not to track them. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/96-of-us-users-opt-o...

[deleted]

Re: Google extends third party cookie deadline until late 2023

#48
Eh, we'll see if they can actually hold to that position.

Every time Google delays on a change like this, it becomes a bit more obvious that both Firefox and Safari are more private browsers by default out of the box. Add to this that Firefox already has better uBlock Origin performance than Chrome. Add to this that whenever Manifest V2 is finally deprecated from Chrome their adblocking will get considerably worse.

Firefox and Safari also aren't going to stand still on privacy. I expect them to continue to widen the gap over time if Google keeps delaying on this stuff; regardless of whether they're delaying because of fear of regulators or just because they don't like the idea of a web ecosystem that is less ad-friendly.

----

It is a little bit ironic to hear sentences like this coming from the Chrome PR team though:

> In order to do this, we need to move at a responsible pace. This will allow sufficient time for public discussion on the right solutions, continued engagement with regulators, and for publishers and the advertising industry to migrate their services.

It's funny, given that a primary complaint of Chrome from web developers has been that they constantly move at a breakneck pace with new standards and regularly push out new policies without sufficient developer discussion or thought about the possible issues their changes will introduce. See the entire web audio debacle.

It's almost like Google is a lot more scared of breaking ads than they are of breaking other parts of the web. :)

Re: Google extends third party cookie deadline until late 2023

#49
post #37

Not defending cookies - but I just don't think most of the rest of the world cares . Outside of the tech bubble that really cares, I'm not sure I know a single non-tech person that, other than 'the popup', even knows what a cookie is (let alone gives a damn). 99% of my non-tech friends/relatives are just bored of 'the box thing that comes up every time you visit a website'. No one it them and everyone just clicks the…

Isn't it our jobs as the people who understand these things and are implementing the technologies to not take advantage of the fact that most people using them are ignorant to how this stuff works?

I wouldn't expect the people who built bridges to install technology that secretly tracked you every time you crossed over them.

Re: Google extends third party cookie deadline until late 2023

#50
post #37

Not defending cookies - but I just don't think most of the rest of the world cares . Outside of the tech bubble that really cares, I'm not sure I know a single non-tech person that, other than 'the popup', even knows what a cookie is (let alone gives a damn). 99% of my non-tech friends/relatives are just bored of 'the box thing that comes up every time you visit a website'. No one it them and everyone just clicks the…

This is true... but it's also why we, as the informed parties, must actively push change. The 99% of folks who don't understand are going to be taken advantage of, and actively harmed, by privacy issues they don't understand. It's why the default needs to be the right one for consumers.
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