Beginning with 30 million Chrome users, Google has begun to disable cookies. This means that while third-party advertisers will no longer be able to track a user’s movements, Google will still be able to track everything a Chrome user does.
Google has revolutionized online privacy by taking the first step toward permanently banning cookies, starting with its Chrome web browser. This morning, cookies were turned off for 1% of Chrome users, or about 30 million people.
By the end of the year, Google hopes to completely remove cookies, which have long been viewed as the internet’s original sin by privacy advocates because they are the main means by which tech companies track user behavior. These so-called “third-party cookies,” developed by companies like Google, are essential to targeted ads and other tracking mechanisms, deeply ingrained in the system.
Google took the decision to remove them in response to growing worries about privacy violations in the IT sector.