“We are also exploring technologies that reduce the potential for secret data collection,” the company said. Google will begin blocking cross-app tracking on Android as part of a multi-year effort to replace the existing online advertising system for its mobile operating system with a privacy-friendly alternative.
The company mentioned the news on Wednesday as part of an announcement about new privacy restrictions that will prevent Android apps from profiling users’ Internet activities.
“These solutions will notably limit the sharing of user data with third parties and will work without cross-application identifiers, including advertising ones. We are also exploring technologies that reduce the potential for secret data collection,” Google said. This includes preventing advertisers from using other types of data to fingerprint users.
The announcement comes a year after Apple introduced privacy controls for iOS that, among other things, required iOS software developers to first ask users for permission to track their activity both on the web and in third-party applications to display personalized advertisements.
Google’s statement on Wednesday suggests the tech giant is also preparing to remove cross-app tracking. Android now simplifies cross-app tracking by giving each device an advertising ID that software developers can collect to determine which apps you’ve used.
To prevent tracking, users can manually reset an advertising ID or even disable the advertising system by accessing the Android operating system settings. However, third-party apps can still collect other types of data, such as B. a phone’s serial number or IP address to create a fingerprint of a user and track them around the internet.
In response, Google is working on a new system for Android that promises to stop tracking users without disrupting the online advertising industry. Dubbed Privacy Sandbox for Android, the effort builds on Google’s existing efforts to phase out cookie-based advertising in the Chrome browser for a privacy-focused advertising system.
However, don’t expect Google to follow in Apple’s footsteps. The company’s announcement gives Apple a run for its money by referencing a study that claims iOS’s app tracking transparency system only gives the illusion of privacy when many third-party apps can still collect a lot of data. user data.
“We believe that without first providing an alternative way to protect privacy, such approaches may be ineffective and lead to poorer privacy outcomes for users and developer companies,” Google added. (Other companies like Facebook say iOS privacy changes are putting huge financial pressure on their advertising models.)
Google’s alternative is to create new ways to serve industry-targeted ads first before the company begins phasing out advertiser ID systems and blocking secret forms of tracking.
One of the proposals is called Topics API, which Google already wants to implement for the Chrome browser. The Topics API basically works by performing on-device processing to determine a handful of topics you’re interested in based on your web history, then submitting a random topic to ad networks.
Another proposal from Google is called FLEDGE and also involves on-device processing to store information about apps your Android device has recently accessed. Ad networks can trick your phone into displaying ads related to the apps you use.
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Google has created a website specifically for the proposals, which will appear via Android Developer Previews later this year. A beta version is planned for the end of the year.
Google added, “We have offered public commitments to our web privacy sandboxing efforts, including assurances that we will not give preferential treatment to Google’s advertising products or sites.” We will also apply these principles to our work with Android. »
In the meantime, the company plans to support its existing Android ad systems for at least two years.
