So-called “cookies” are one of those things that everyone has read about at some point but few people really know how it works; in fact, it probably sounds familiar to you because you had to choose whether or not to accept cookies when accessing this same page. This is something that all web pages in Europe and the European Union must do, due to the potential they have to violate the privacy of Internet users.
Now Google wants to end the use of cookies on the web almost completely, with an alternative it has dubbed “Privacy Sandbox”; after some controversy and some changes, the internet giant is ready to go public. Today, Google announced that the Privacy Sandbox will be available in the Chrome browser starting in July, with the first real user tests taking place in the first quarter of 2024.
In this way, Google has confirmed what may be the biggest change on the web in decades, which can be positive or negative, but what is certain is that it will be controversial. To understand the magnitude of this change, you must first understand what Google wants to remove.
Why Google wants to load cookies
A “cookie” is a small piece of information that the web pages we visit can create in our web browser. Cookies are generally essential to use any service; for example, to log in or to save our preferences. The problem is that these small files can also be used by other servers to follow userscalled “third-party cookies”.
For example, the most common use of third-party cookies is to track our browsing and thus show us personalized advertisements; that, if we entered a car page, car ads appear. There are also other, more malicious uses, and if left unchecked, cookies can completely eliminate user privacy.
“Cookies” are the big privacy problem of today’s web
After several privacy-related scandals and the launch of the new Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union, Google decided to develop an alternative that reaches the balance between user privacy and advertiser activity. After all, Google got where it is thanks to ad personalization made possible by cookies.
The alternative to cookies
This is how the “Privacy Sandbox” was born, a set of technologies designed to protect the identity and navigation of the user, while obtaining the data necessary to display personalized advertising. To do this, instead of consulting the information stored in a “cookie”, the advertiser will ask the browser directly what interests the user based on certain themes.
The Privacy Sandbox wants to protect privacy by replacing cookies with “themes”
Therefore, instead of recording exactly the web pages we have visited and sending them to a server, it will be our browser that will take care of carrying out a list of topics that interest us depending on the pages we visit (in the configuration we can see and modify these themes). When we visit a page with advertising, advertisements for the topics that interest us will be displayed. It’s a complicated process and it’s gone through several revisions, but the end result should be more private than what we have now.
In fact, it looks like Google is already happy with the results, because in no time it will start implementing it in Chrome. Furthermore, it is also expected that in the future Android implements Privacy Sandbox at the operating system level so that applications cannot track us.
Chrome, the first to eliminate cookies
As announced by Google, the first step will be taken next July. The version of Chrome that will be released this month will be the first to allow developers to use the Privacy Sandbox in their tests. Although not available to users, it will be important for companies to start changing the systems that replace the cookies they currently use.
In addition to Chrome, Android will also have Privacy Sandbox
The next step will be at the end of 2023, when developers can simulate the end of cookies, removing this option from Chrome to see how they can display ads without having to use them.
Ultimately, the first public share of cookies will occur in the first quarter of 2024. At this time, Google will approximately eliminate third-party cookies by 1% of Chrome users, starting from usarán Privacy Sandbox sin que tengan que do nothing.
You may be interested
Follow the topics that interest you
Table of Contents
