Internet search giant Google has decided against removing cookies from its Chrome browser.
This was revealed by Anthony Chavez, vice-president of the Google-backed Privacy Sandbox initiative, in a blog post.
Internet cookies, also known as HTTP cookies, are small pieces of data sent from a website and stored on the user’s computer by their web browser while they are browsing.
They were designed to be a reliable mechanism for websites to remember information (such as items in a shopping cart) or to record the user’s browsing activity (including clicking particular buttons, logging in, or recording which pages were visited in the past).
Most web browsers provide options to manage cookies, such as deleting them, blocking third-party cookies, or setting preferences for how cookies are handled.
Over the years, Google had indicated it wanted to phase-out cookies, which have significant implications for privacy, as they can be used to track and store detailed information about users’ online activities.
Apple and Mozilla have eliminated cookies on their browsers, Safari and Firefox.
According to Reuters, Google’s reversal follows concerns from advertisers – the company’s biggest source of income – saying the loss of cookies in the world’s most popular browser will limit their ability to collect information for personalising ads, making them dependent on Google's user databases.
A recent market study by Statista shows Google Chrome to be the leading browser in terms of browser market share, with 61.80% of all users preferring it. Safari follows with 24.36%, with Edge, Firefox and other browsers making up the remainder of the list.
Balancing act
Chavez notes Google developed the Privacy Sandbox with the goal of finding innovative solutions that meaningfully improve online privacy, while preserving an ad-supported internet that supports a “vibrant ecosystem of publishers, connects businesses with customers and offers all of us free access to a wide range of content”.
Founded in 2019, the Privacy Sandbox is an initiative led by Google to create web standards for websites to access user information without compromising privacy. Its core purpose is to facilitate online advertising by sharing a subset of user private information without the use of third-party cookies.
“Throughout this process, we’ve received feedback from a wide variety of stakeholders, including regulators like the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), publishers, web developers and standards groups, civil society and participants in the advertising industry,” says Chavez.
“This feedback has helped us craft solutions that aim to support a competitive and thriving marketplace that works for publishers and advertisers, and encourage the adoption of privacy-enhancing technologies.”
According to Chavez, early testing from ad tech companies, including Google, has indicated the Privacy Sandbox application programming interfaces (APIs) have the potential to achieve these outcomes.
“We expect that overall performance using Privacy Sandbox APIs will improve over time as industry adoption increases. At the same time, we recognise this transition requires significant work by many participants and will have an impact on publishers, advertisers and everyone involved in online advertising.
“In light of this, we are proposing an updated approach that elevates user choice. Instead of deprecating third-party cookies, we would introduce a new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their web browsing, and they’d be able to adjust that choice at any time. We’re discussing this new path with regulators, and will engage with the industry as we roll this out.”
As this moves forward, he adds, it remains important for developers to have privacy-preserving alternatives.
Further discussions
“We’ll continue to make the Privacy Sandbox APIs available and invest in them to further improve privacy and utility. We also intend to offer additional privacy controls, so we plan to introduce IP protection into Chrome's Incognito mode.
“We’re grateful to all the organisations and individuals who have worked with us over the last four years to develop, test and adopt the Privacy Sandbox. And as we finalise this approach, we’ll continue to consult with the CMA, ICO and other regulators globally.
“We look forward to continued collaboration with the ecosystem on the next phase of the journey to a more private web,” Chavez concludes.
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