cookie alternatives
Therefore, the real question for users is not when cookies will disappear from the field of digital data collection, but which new “industry standards” will replace them.
Of course, Google has its own preferred answer, and several legal experts consulted by EUrologus warn that it could be mistaken for the Privacy Sandbox Initiative. Google’s goal is to enable tracking across websites and applications through its privacy sandbox, while allowing online content and services to operate efficiently.
The digital giant’s veiled message aims to position the current digital advertising giant for the post-cookie era. Its creators are inviting publishers, media companies, developers, and advertisers to participate in the development of his privacy sandbox to create new industry standards that protect users’ privacy rights and enable the functioning of the digital advertising market. I promise you that. Google has made no secret of its dissatisfaction with the declining acceptance of his cookies, and other companies in the advertising industry, including Meta, which runs Facebook and is his second-largest global stakeholder in the market. The same is true.
In Google’s words: “In recent years, some browsers and platforms have taken steps to limit or remove existing mechanisms such as third-party cookies, without effective alternatives. This is an important eco-friendly This could negatively impact system functionality and put your personal data at greater risk.” The latter refers to website features that do not function if cookies are not accepted or blocked. , shamelessly avoids mentioning ad targeting as the holy grail.
In an interview with EUrologus, Chris Schryshak, a digital rights expert at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, believes that contrary to Google’s claims, the truth lies elsewhere. According to him, the privacy sandbox currently under development will ensure the protection of the data of users whose browsers visit one of the world’s one million most visited websites, although the latter is not very popular. If you visit the website, you will find that nothing could be further from the truth. site. In fact, Privacy Sandbox uses machine learning to figure out which niche interest categories and tags the system places users in. This may provide advertising targeting systems with an unreasonable amount of data about Internet users.
In addition to Privacy Sandbox, a competing solution called Interoperable Private Attribution (IPA) is in development by Mozilla, the developer of Meta and Firefox. However, experts who spoke to EUrologus said caution should be exercised about the initiative’s true intentions when it comes to protecting personal data online, as the IPA is also backed by big players in the digital advertising market. It states that.
How do you see the phase-out from Brussels?
Experts from EPICenter.work, one of Europe’s most vocal defenders of digital rights, say cookies are one of the ways to recognize users’ behavior on websites and track their use of various services. He warns that it is not too much. Another method is so-called “digital fingerprinting.” It combines information such as window size, installed fonts, and battery charge with a unique identifier to ensure anonymity. There are also attempts to integrate functionality into the browser itself to rate visits to websites.
Mr. Srishak emphasized that, contrary to popular belief, cookies are not primarily regulated by the EU’s data protection regulations, commonly known as GDPR, although there are related provisions. . The processing of personal data is primarily governed by the e-Privacy Directive, which is currently being updated in negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament.
This will be complemented by important additions from the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into force last year.
Separately, specifically, the phasing out of cookies will also reach the level of interest of EU policymakers in spring 2023, and the EU will discuss the legal, business and data protection aspects of this issue. This led to the establishment of a working group.
The European Commission has announced a voluntary plan to increase the number of websites in the EU that will phase out cookies. According to his EU institutional sources consulted by EUrologus, the latter could lead to the creation of post-cookie targeting and advertising regulations in the near future.
According to a detailed analysis by IAB Europe, which represents digital advertising market participants at EU level, there are overall three main factors contributing to the end of cookies: EU legal environment (privacy is at the core). We are making great strides in this direction. Browser development. And third, the proliferation of ad blocking software (ad blockers).
Simply put, the use of ad blocking solutions (i.e. banning cookies) has reached such a critical level among users that it is starting to interfere with the effective operation of advertising systems, targeting, and advertising bidding.
So even though Google has renamed “first-party cookies” to become an industry standard, it’s a good bet that Google won’t let go of any of the data collection that enables targeted ads served alongside search results. expected.
