Google’s FLoC Is a Terrible Idea

I really don't understand the problem here. It looks like FLoC will entirely depend on the browser (which Google controls if it's Chrome). So the browser will analyze your browsing history (and since it's Google, it will probably connect to everything else Google knows about you) to request targeted ads.

But, what about the people who don't use Chrome? I would hope that most people who know what EFF is already don't. Firefox will surely come with a way to disable it, or you'll configure it to always send "my little pony" or something like this.

In the end, this seems to really be about Google (with a browser) competing against Facebook and other ad providers (who don't have a browser).

The big problem with FLoC, as I see it, is that it makes fingerprinting vastly easier. Your FLoC bucket narrows you down to one of several thousand users, rather than one of several million, and that's before fingerprinting applies.

Ironically, it seems that FLoC makes user tracking easier, not harder.

I see no upside in FLoC for me as a user, and plenty of potential downside. I'm glad I use Firefox.

Without making any drastic changes to my browser to intentionally inhibit fingerprinting, I already have a unique fingerprint according to https://coveryourtracks.eff.org/, so this honestly doesn't signal a change to me at all. I just run uBlock Origin to block trackers/ads.

I have the same. And the majority of what makes me unique, at least according to the EFF website, is absolutely not needed for 99.99% of the websites I visit.

> Firefox will surely come with a way to disable it

What's interesting is that since these "FLoC cohort" identifiers are generated by the browser itself, it's even easier than "disabling" it.

They just won't implement it in the first place.

Just what I was thinking. The article doesn't clearly answer the question of what level of browser cooperation is necessary for FLoC. I use Firefox. When I'm not using Firefox, I'm using Safari. Does this mean FloC won't affect me?

> FLoC is meant to be a new way to make your browser do the profiling that third-party trackers used to do themselves

This seems to hint that avoiding FLoC is just a matter of avoiding Chrome, with no 'arms race' of any sort.