Google thinks it has the answer to concern over internet privacy and the “Do Not Track” movement against third-party cookies. The company is said to be planning a cookie-less tracking tool that provides advertisers with an alternative way to target people online while keeping users anonymous.
USA Today first broke the news, citing a source who’s familiar with the project who said Google has a new tracking tool in development called AdID. Several sources have since stepped forward to confirm with various media outlets that the project is in development. The sources have said that Google is planning to reach out to industry, government and consumer groups in the coming months before officially rolling out AdID.
According to the reports, AdID is deployed over ad networks that agree to implement it, replacing their ad targeting systems based on cookie data. On the user side, the tool provides ways to restrict which advertisers can track user information, and it automatically resets users’ AdID data once a year.
Concerns over internet privacy are nothing new but have reached a pitch since it was revealed that US spying agency NSA conducts extensive monitoring of online activity. Adding to the outcry is evidence that internet companies who collect vast amounts of data on their own have either complied with or been complacent of the NSA’s activities.
The message coming from Google’s side is that AdID is an alternative to cookies that takes user privacy into account. Cookies indiscriminately track user information and make that data accessible to anyone looking to target internet users. Google’s AdID would provide the targeting function without private user data.
Not surprisingly, Google’s plan has found detractors among advertisers. That includes the Internet Advertising Bureau, which represents the digital side of the industry. IAB general counsel Mike Zaneis told USA Today that while advertisers are only asking for some sort of tracking tool and not necessarily cookies, there’s concern with giving a single company complete control over the ecosystem.
Zaneis shared one concern over the scenario: “[Google] could depreciate the user of that ID on a whim [and] basically, and severely, undermine billions of dollars in digital ad spending.”
Google has no doubt seen that third-party cookies are becoming increasingly shunned, and not only by users. Apple’s Safari browser has never allowed third-party cookies to track user sessions. Internet users are also becoming more savvy about private browsing online, with nearly all browsers giving them the ability to block and erase cookie data. Advertisers may put on a brave face and try to resist the demise of the cookie, but they have a history of embracing Google’s efforts on their behalf. And even they have to recognize that for a growing number of internet users, the time to stick a fork in cookies can’t come fast enough.
Source: USA Today
