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Google’s FLoC Is a Terrible Idea

(www.eff.org)
604 points wyldfire | 1 comments | 04 Mar 21 15:59 UTC | HN request time: 0.228s | source
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Noughmad ◴[04 Mar 21 18:34 UTC] No.26346250[source]▶
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).

replies(3): >>26348544 #>>26353038 #>>26355831 #
1. MaxBarraclough ◴[05 Mar 21 11:55 UTC] No.26355831[source]▶
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.