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This is not attempting to preserve privacy. This is attempting to give a pretense of preserving privacy, while completely deanonymizing the web. This is browse

This is not attempting to preserve privacy. This is attempting to give a pretense of preserving privacy, while completely deanonymizing the web. This is browser fingerprinting on steroids. In addition to things like screen resolution and OS, you get a FLoC ID. Browser fingerprinting already works very well. FLoC supercharges it, and adds profiling information. FLoC also gathers information from web sites which otherwise Google could not track. Since your browser is tracking you, they don't even need Google Analytics installed.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
soared 5y ago
A floc Id is shared amongst millions of users, and can be reset at any time by the user. Google owns chrome and always had the ability to track any website whether or not it had google scripts on it. If you signed in to your browser, this was already happening.
- dwild 5y ago
  > A floc Id is shared amongst millions of users, and can be reset at any time by the user. Sure but are you sharing your IP with a millions of users? That's only a single other information about you, there's a bunch others given by your browser.
dwild 5y ago
Except that now you got control over your fingerprint. You can choose what to send to the website, you are the one that decide which website get it or not. Sure you'll still get the other fingerprinting there, which still allow them to track you, but before FLoC, Google couldn't imagine reducing Chrome own fingerprints, now that they are going toward FLoC, they can do that, without cannibalizing their revenue stream. In real life, most won't deactivate FLoC, and that's where they are still going to make money. Everyone else most probably already use adblockers or already refused ad targeting from Google Ads.
granzymes 5y ago
> This is not attempting to preserve privacy. This is attempting to give a pretense of preserving privacy, while completely deanonymizing the web. Cookies uniquely identify me without additional data. Cohorts do not uniquely identify me without additional data. This is not privacy, but it is more privacy than third-party cookies.
- woofie11 5y ago
  Cookies identify you only to the site setting the cookie. When doubleclick.net started scraping my data, I blocked them. Problem gone. FLoC gathers data from *all* my web browsing activity. In addition, I have a nearly unique fingerprint from browser fingerprinting already. This makes it almost certainly unique. It's not more privacy than cookies. It's a lot less.
  - granzymes 5y ago
    If you want to block the third-party cookie providers there are several you need to block. If you want to block FLoC you need to turn it off in your browser. Still seems better.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

soared 5y ago

A floc Id is shared amongst millions of users, and can be reset at any time by the user. Google owns chrome and always had the ability to track any website whether or not it had google scripts on it. If you signed in to your browser, this was already happening.

dwild 5y ago
> A floc Id is shared amongst millions of users, and can be reset at any time by the user. Sure but are you sharing your IP with a millions of users? That's only a single other information about you, there's a bunch others given by your browser.

dwild 5y ago

Except that now you got control over your fingerprint. You can choose what to send to the website, you are the one that decide which website get it or not. Sure you'll still get the other fingerprinting there, which still allow them to track you, but before FLoC, Google couldn't imagine reducing Chrome own fingerprints, now that they are going toward FLoC, they can do that, without cannibalizing their revenue stream. In real life, most won't deactivate FLoC, and that's where they are still going to make money. Everyone else most probably already use adblockers or already refused ad targeting from Google Ads.

granzymes 5y ago

> This is not attempting to preserve privacy. This is attempting to give a pretense of preserving privacy, while completely deanonymizing the web. Cookies uniquely identify me without additional data. Cohorts do not uniquely identify me without additional data. This is not privacy, but it is more privacy than third-party cookies.

woofie11 5y ago
Cookies identify you only to the site setting the cookie. When doubleclick.net started scraping my data, I blocked them. Problem gone. FLoC gathers data from *all* my web browsing activity. In addition, I have a nearly unique fingerprint from browser fingerprinting already. This makes it almost certainly unique. It's not more privacy than cookies. It's a lot less.
- granzymes 5y ago
  If you want to block the third-party cookie providers there are several you need to block. If you want to block FLoC you need to turn it off in your browser. Still seems better.