Google has announced the next stage of Privacy Sandbox testing for ad relevance and measurement purposes. Starting 31 March 2022, developers all over the globe can test Topics, FLEDGE and Attribution Reporting APIs in Chrome's Canary version. The Sandbox is a new ad targeting stack that Google has bought to replace cookies tracking-based targeted Chrome advertising.
There had been concerns about the collection of user data despite Google's frequent additions of privacy-focused features in its products and services. Google's recently announced "Privacy Sandbox" initiative proposes multiple components such as,
Topics: In late January 2022, Google announced to replace the much-criticized antecedent FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts) with 'Topics’-which is Google's idea for Interest-Based ad targeting of user's web activity.
FLEDGE: The FLEDGE component of Privacy Sandbox is a proposal to serve remarketing and custom use cases. It prevents third parties from tracking users' browsing behavior across sites.
Attribution Reporting API: Attribution Reporting is Google's solution to eliminate dependency on the cross-party user identifier. With this component of Privacy Sandbox, the third parties can't track the user browsing behavior across sites, and the advertisers can measure the ad's conversion through ad clicks or views.
In their recent blog, Google mentioned that they are looking forward to the feedback from the companies for continuous improvement in their APIs. And with time, it will broadly avail APIs in Chrome while allowing more developers to integrate, evaluate, and provide feedback. Furthermore, Google promises continuous optimization based on the developers' various use cases.
Google also plans to test its updated Privacy Sandbox settings and controls. This update allows users to see and manage their interests. They can also opt out of the trials altogether.
The Privacy Sandbox proposals have already benefited substantially from the thoughtful feedback of early testers, and we're eager to open up testing for more of our proposals. We'll continue to gather feedback from the ecosystem and to engage with regulators globally, including through our work with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority in line with our commitments for the Privacy Sandbox on the web. - Vinit Goel, Product Director, Privacy Sandbox, Chrome.
In a blog post by Vinit Goel, Product Director, Privacy Sandbox, Chrome, mentioned that Google benefits from the early testers' feedback and works with the UK's Competition and Market Authority. He said, "The Privacy Sandbox proposals have already benefited substantially from the thoughtful feedback of early testers, and we're eager to open up testing for more of our proposals. We'll continue to gather feedback from the ecosystem and to engage with regulators globally, including through our work with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority in line with our commitments for the Privacy Sandbox on the web."