Privacy heads up for Chrome browser users

[Helena]

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/03/go...sers-heres

Today, Google launched an “origin trial” of Federated Learning of Cohorts (aka FLoC), its experimental new technology for targeting ads. A switch has silently been flipped in millions of instances of Google Chrome: those browsers will begin sorting their users into groups based on behavior, then sharing group labels with third-party trackers and advertisers around the web. A random set of users have been selected for the trial, and they can currently only opt out by disabling third-party cookies.

This trial doesn't let you opt out. The only way is to disable all third party cookies.

[Moonface]

Does this still work if you use an ad blocker? I can't tell if this works by checking what ads you get or by just seeing what you're up to to better determine the ads you get.

[Helena]

Maybe you would need to be using a tracking blocker, like Ghostery or Malwarebytes Browser Guard?

[Skyon Archer]

It does not track your history.

Basically, it puts a container (called cohort) in your browser and assigns it a number when you visit a website. Say for planetnexus.net it sets 1122 in the container and it associates that with the content on the page(s) visited. Next time you visit a site your browser itself defines the content of 1122.

Current approaches for ad selection rely on techniques such as tracking cookies and device fingerprinting, which are used by third parties such as advertisers to track individual browsing behavior.

With FLoC, the browser does not share its browsing history with the FLoC service or anyone else. The browser, on the user's device, works out which cohort it belongs to. The user's browsing history never leaves the device.

You can see a demo, and if your browser is currently supporting FLoC, by visiting: https://floc.glitch.me/

For the record, I'm using Google Chrome version 89.x and it says:

This browser's FLoC cohort ID is... not supported by this browser

This browser's FLoC cohort version is... not supported by this browser

For a more detailed explanation of FLoC, visit https://web.dev/floc/

FLoC is actually not bad. It is an attempt to limit browser cookies and their sharing of your browser history.

[Moonface]

I don't fully understand still, but my browser isn't using FLoC so I guess I don't need to worry right now. :P

[Malcolm80]

iam only using block referer app. but i just clicked to disable 3rd party cookies.