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From your last link: > API callers only receive topics they've observed > A design goal of the Topics API is to enable interest-based advertising without shar

From your last link: > API callers only receive topics they've observed > A design goal of the Topics API is to enable interest-based advertising without sharing information with more entities than is currently possible with third-party cookies. The Topics API is designed so topics can only be returned for API callers that have already observed them, within a limited timeframe. An API caller is said to have observed a topic for a user if it has called the document.browsingTopics() method in code included on a site that the Topics API has mapped to that topic.

troupo 3y ago
This doesn't say that topics only come from the same website. It only says that if a website has "observed" any of the thousand or so topics, one will be provided to that site based on user activity. Edit. Literally last link: > Map browser activity to topics of interest. With the current design of the Topics API, topics are inferred from the hostnames of pages the user visits.
- amadeuspagel 3y ago
  That sentence is about how the Topics API finds topics, not about who the topics are shared with.
  - troupo 3y ago
    The original claim was that Topics API doesn't use the whole browser history, and that sites inly get topics for that site. Whereas the description clearly states that topics are derived from the entire browsing history, and they will get topics derived from the test of the history because while coarse, there are still a bunch of them. A site with a narrow site like a site on fresh-water aquatic plants will probably only get a handful of topics. What will Amazon get? Or Google for that matter? Or a news site? Given that they are likely to "observe" every single topic?
    - amadeuspagel 3y ago
      The original discussion was comparing the Topics API to third party cookies. The way that the Topics API works is that a website that could have set a third party cookie will instead be able to observe a topic, and will then be able to get that topic in the future.
      - troupo 3y ago
        The comment I responded to claimed that Topics API doesn't use the full history and that a site X won't get topics derived for site Y: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37429447 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37429447
        amadeuspagel 3y ago
        > Topics API doesn't use the full history That's true, or rather no site gets access to the full history, or to topics that are derrived from the full history, but only to that part of the history that it "observed". > a site X won't get topics derived for site Y Unless site Y allowed them to, which of course site Y can also do by allowing them to set a third party cookie.

troupo 3y ago

This doesn't say that topics only come from the same website. It only says that if a website has "observed" any of the thousand or so topics, one will be provided to that site based on user activity. Edit. Literally last link: > Map browser activity to topics of interest. With the current design of the Topics API, topics are inferred from the hostnames of pages the user visits.

amadeuspagel 3y ago
That sentence is about how the Topics API finds topics, not about who the topics are shared with.
- troupo 3y ago
  The original claim was that Topics API doesn't use the whole browser history, and that sites inly get topics for that site. Whereas the description clearly states that topics are derived from the entire browsing history, and they will get topics derived from the test of the history because while coarse, there are still a bunch of them. A site with a narrow site like a site on fresh-water aquatic plants will probably only get a handful of topics. What will Amazon get? Or Google for that matter? Or a news site? Given that they are likely to "observe" every single topic?
  - amadeuspagel 3y ago
    The original discussion was comparing the Topics API to third party cookies. The way that the Topics API works is that a website that could have set a third party cookie will instead be able to observe a topic, and will then be able to get that topic in the future.
    - troupo 3y ago
      The comment I responded to claimed that Topics API doesn't use the full history and that a site X won't get topics derived for site Y: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37429447 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37429447
      - amadeuspagel 3y ago
        > Topics API doesn't use the full history That's true, or rather no site gets access to the full history, or to topics that are derrived from the full history, but only to that part of the history that it "observed". > a site X won't get topics derived for site Y Unless site Y allowed them to, which of course site Y can also do by allowing them to set a third party cookie.