'Cookies' track your every move online. Now there's a fight over what should replace them

cnn.com ^ | March 9, 2021 | Brian Fung

[ransomnote]

(CNN)For decades, "cookies" have been tracking you around the web. They're the snippets of code that uniquely identify your browser and allow those shoe ads to follow you from site to site after you visit an online storefront. Soon, their time may be up.

Third-party cookies have increasingly fallen by the wayside as the public has become more protective of privacy rights in an age of algorithms and data. Some major browsers including Firefox and Safari now block third-party cookies by default, further reducing their usefulness to advertisers. And Google has already said it's planning to do the same in its browser, Chrome.

But last week Google (GOOGL) went further, announcing it will soon stop tracking individual people's web browsing altogether for advertising purposes when Chrome finally drops third-party cookies.

 

If that sounds like a big deal, that's because it is. In a blog post explaining the change, Google said that once tracking cookies are eventually blocked by default on Chrome, the company won't build or support browser technology designed to perpetuate individual-level data tracking. The announcement laid out Google's intentions for what comes after the death of the third-party cookie, something it and many others in the industry had been anticipating for years.

 

[ransomnote]

Hate it when clicking on a story launches a video presentation that shouts content at you while you try to read...........

[Red Badger]

Muffins?........................

[martin_fierro]

And Google has already said it's planning to do the same in its browser, Chrome. But last week Google (GOOGL) went further, announcing it will soon stop tracking individual people's web browsing altogether for advertising purposes when Chrome finally drops third-party cookies.

Until, of course, it doesn’t. Anyone remember Google’s old slogan, “Don’t Be Evil”?

[z3n]

Apart from their nefarious reputation for being exploited, cookies used to benefit your web experience too. Your browser can hold your ‘session’ on any website and keep you logged in, but cookies let you stay logged in between sessions. So for a site that you liked to stay logged in on, cookies could help you from the annoyance of having to log in every time you returned.

I have long since broke my lazy habit of staying logged into websites and have more recently adopted browser settings that deny cookies and delete them after closing.

[rigelkentaurus]

But last week Google (GOOGL) went further, announcing it will soon stop tracking individual people's web browsing altogether for advertising purposes
But will still track each individual for other nefarious purposes

[Vaquero]

Ooooo Donuts!!!!

[fruser1]

This just means they have something better now.

Sort of like those useless START treaties. Each one came into effect limiting older technology when the next generation of technology was fully tested.

[lee martell]

More Cowbell!

[GunHoardingCapitalist]

The Combine?

#halflife2 game reference check ✔

[Seruzawa]

Since most of the ads that follow me around are promoting things I’ve already bought, I find such advertising to be a colossal waste of energy and resources. Like I’m going to buy a second refrigerator or do another home refinance a week later. Lol. They are a long way from Minority Report.

[PAR35]

Hate it when clicking on a story launches a video presentation that shouts content at you while you try to read.

A script blocker will handle that. But might interfere with some functions that you use.

[Salamander]

Scones.

[Seruzawa]

Right. I certainly believe that. /s

They have something far worse than cookies. What I don’t know. But these evil criminals will keep tracking.

[Red Badger]

Mick and Keith are too old...................

[Mr. K]

Cookies are not this horrible sinister thing.

When you go to a website it stores information about your visit so that the next time you come you can jump right in.

This is not that big of a deal now, but was a huge deal in the beginning when bandwidth was slow.

You can also choose not to accept them.

[joshua c]

yeah, when I buy a pizza online and get inundated with pizza ads. total waste of money

[Salamander]

...and there goes my appetite.

[Mr. K]

P.S. I’d be more worried about what they want to replace them with.

[Seruzawa]

Or when I buy a starter motor for a 2007 Triumph Tiger on line and then I get ads for starter motors for 3 weeks. Yep. Very intelligent use of resources. Lol.

[proxy_user]

“They’re the snippets of code...”

They are in fact text files, not code. All the code executes on the server side.