Chrome browser will make it harder for companies that are not Google to track you online
Google is about to make a move that will prove that it’s also getting a lot more serious about privacy than you’d expect from a company that collects a treasure trove of information about you. A report says that Google will launch a new feature for the Chrome browser that will make it a lot harder for companies to track you online, but only as long as those companies are not Google.
The new privacy tools that will come in a future version of Chrome will give users more information about the cookies that are tracking them, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Google has been working on the feature for at least six years, but work has accelerated in the past year, following Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal.
People familiar with the matter expect Google’s new privacy tools to deliver a blow to other digital marketing companies. However, Google’s tool will not block Google’s own cookies that also collect plenty of user data. Plenty of reports in the past few years show the incredible amount of data Google obtains from internet users, including location data that users may not necessarily want to share.
The report notes that Google is only targeting cookies that are installed by profit-seeking companies, that are separate from the owner of a website. “The coming changes aren’t expected to curtail significantly Google’s ability to collect data,” The Journal writes.
Google makes plenty of money from advertising, and the data it collects from users with the help of cookies allow it to sell better-targeted ads. In case the new privacy tool will only hurt Google’s competitors, it wouldn’t be surprising to see regulators in some markets come after the search giant with further antitrust investigations.
