Google gets its way, bakes a user-tracking ad platform directly into Chrome

L4sBot@lemmy.worldmod to Technology@lemmy.world – 292 points – Google gets its way, bakes a user-tracking ad platform directly into Chrome
arstechnica.com

Google gets its way, bakes a user-tracking ad platform directly into Chrome::Chrome now directly tracks users, generates a "topic" list it shares with advertisers.

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Well that explains why I'm seeing full page popups saying I need to disable my adblocker on certain sites..

Okay.. I've resisted long enough. I'll make the switch to Firefox tonight

Make sure to use uBlock origin once you switch.

Thanks using it now.for chrome. I'll be sure to add it in. Between it and the pihole I should be good.

Thanks for the heads-up

I switched a while back for the same reason, in a completely different scenario. Google is playing themselves.

uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger should be the first addons you install.

Also consider the Multi-Account Containers addon. It loads certain domains in their own tabs and isolates them from others.

This is just the basics, there's a deep rabbit hole for privacy of you're interested and lots of interesting extensions for maximum control (cookie auto-deleters, Matrix, JavaScript disablers, anti-fingerprinting, scrubbers etc.) Firefox itself comes with a lot of privacy-related stuff built-in nowadays.

Jumped a month ago or so after reading about their "product enhancements" and not being able to install an extension to download a YouTube clip I needed for a work project. Water is excellent, also removing them out of my search as much as possible.

Recommend Degoogle Yourself community for weeding them out wherever you're comfortable. I still have them for photos and maps is better than anything comparable but have given them that much less data to sell. !degoogle@lemmy.ml

oof, that's just sad. i hope people switch, firefox is actually not that bad these days

Firefox has been very good (better than Chrome) for several years. Ever since they released Quantum.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Unlike the glitzy front-page Google blog post that the redesign got, the big ad platform launch announcement is tucked away on the privacysandbox.com page.

The blog post says the ad platform is hitting "general availability" today, meaning it has rolled out to most Chrome users.

This has been a long time coming, with the APIs rolling out about a month ago and a million incremental steps in the beta and dev builds, but now the deed is finally done.

Users should see a pop-up when they start up Chrome soon, informing them that an "ad privacy" feature has been rolled out to them and enabled.

That's actually what started this whole process: Apple dealt a giant blow to Google's core revenue stream when it blocked third-party cookies in Safari in 2020.

Google says it will block third-party cookies in the second half of 2024—presumably after it makes sure the "Privacy Sandbox" will allow it to keep its profits up.

The original article contains 588 words, the summary contains 159 words. Saved 73%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Will this solely be a Chrome "feature" or will it get into Chromium and eventually Edge?

The article mentioned Apple implementing ad blocking which affected Google's revenue, but I think the author forgot extensions. I had read that adblockers were eating into Google's revenue at an alarming rate.

So first adblocks were compromised (was it Adblock or Adblock Pro that had that whitelisting controversy?). When that didn't work, they took advantage of quicklinking/tracking people through Google AMP links, which also allowed advantages to be given to Facebook ad bidding (Jedi Blue - a "mindtrick" these assholes named it) and getting access to Android and Chrome users information in exchange for not setting up a competing ad service plan/ecosystem. And now we're here, with Google disabling extensions altogether and just straight up tracking you directly in Chrome.

Adblocking really, really screwed them over. On one hand good, on the other fuck Google.

Part of the issue is that ads are an escalating infection. Anytime a platform tries to implement 'sane' advertising practices (small footprint, no annoying sounds or motion, etc) it inevitably creeps into more and more abusive interactions with users. Just look at how bad YouTube has gotten. Look at how far Google search has fallen. Ads are like crack. You can't just do it a little bit. You get hooked and you keep escalating until you've ruined everything with it.