18 April 2021

Google's New Tracking Scheme Isn't Popular

Just when we are getting rid of 3rd-party cookies, Google wants to implement a new tracking scheme. 'FLoC off!' Vivaldi declares as it says no to Google's tracking system | ZDNet

Google's Chrome isn't the only browser that uses the Chromium engine. Microsoft Edge, Brave, Opera, and Vivaldi are a few I can think of off the top of my head. Chrome will be implementing a new way to track your every move around the internet. It isn't a good thing.

"Google's new data harvesting venture is nasty," it declared in a blog post that begins with the header "FLoC off! Vivaldi does not support FLoC".

"At Vivaldi, we stand up for the privacy rights of our users. We do not approve tracking and profiling, in any disguise. We certainly would not allow our products to build up local tracking profiles.

The EFF had similar things to say about FLoC.

For a rundown on what FloC is, let's look at what DuckDuckGo has to say:

If you're a Google Chrome user, you might be surprised to learn that you could have been entered automatically into Google's new tracking method called Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC). It groups you based on your interests and demographics, derived from your browsing history, to enable creepy advertising and other content targeting without third-party cookies. After a short trial period, Google decided not to make this new tracking method a user choice and instead started automatically including millions in the scheme. If you're reading this in Chrome while logged in to a Google account, yes, that likely means you too, and if not now, then eventually.

And while Google will not eliminate 3rd-party cookies until 2023, FLoC is active now, at least for some people, as they start the rollout.

DuckDuckGo also has a rundown on what you can do in Chrome to turn off FloC or extensions that will disable it. Of course the easiest thing to do is don't use Chrome.

There are many Chromium-based browsers, and there is Firefox, and Pale Moon, (and probably others) which are not Chromium based at all.

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