What’s Google’s Alternative To Apple’s ‘Ineffective’ Anti-Tracking?


    Google says anti-tracking solutions like Apple’s are ineffective, but the idea of a Privacy Sandbox on Android sounds a little hollow right now.

    Google is bringing a ‘Privacy Sandbox’ to Android, an initiative that aims to tone down user tracking and keep privacy intact, while also maintaining a viable advertising system and slowly phasing out the ad ID framework. For the unaware, Advertising ID is a unique number attached to an Android device that allows businesses to serve ads. It is an analog to the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) number that Apple assigns to its devices. With the anti-tracking measures bundled as part of iOS 14, Apple essentially turned off IDFA access for advertisers with a user-facing permission system.

    Not everyone was a fan of the move, with the likes of Facebook projected to lose $10 billion in ad revenue from Apple’s measures. While there’s an option to delete an Android device’s advertising ID, that only started rolling out late last year. However, the bigger problem is that not all Android phone users are tech-savvy enough to wade into the Settings section to do so. On iPhone, an app explicitly asks users if it can track them, and based on their response, the device identifier is used. In reality, it is easier to avoid invasive ad-tracking on an iPhone than on an Android device.

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    Related: ‘Stealth AirTags’ Are Real And A Privacy Nightmare

    With Privacy Sandbox for Android, Google is promising advertising solutions that will limit user data sharing with third parties, ditch cross-app identifiers, and more importantly, leave behind the advertising ID system. Yes, Google plans to phase out the advertising ID entirely, but that will take no less than two years to fully come into effect. Until that happens, Android users will be subject to ad-tracking, unless the user has enough digital skills to kill it by following this path: Settings > Google > Ads > Delete Advertising ID. Google doesn’t namedrop Apple in its recent announcement, but did say that “other platforms” have adopted “blunt” ad privacy measures that are ineffective, and then links to research that found Apple’s solution to be ineffective. The goal of Privacy Sandbox on Android is noble, but there are a few hurdles before phones running Google’s OS can derive any realistic benefits from the Privacy Sandbox initiative. First, Google says it is a multi-year initiative, which means the actual implementation for all Android users is going to take some time.


    A long Wait Before Benefits Arrive


    Android privacy sandbox google is toothless

    According to the Privacy Sandbox resource, “development, testing, and adopting of these new technologies will take at least two years,” while the blog post mentions that a beta build will be released by the end of 2022. Both of which effectively rules out the ongoing year as a possible time-frame for seeing Google’s version of ATT on Android for the masses. These developer previews and beta builds will only be released once the current Privacy Sandbox proposals have been reviewed and accepted by developers as well as advertising partners. A lot can change, or get thrown in the bin during that period, especially if pressure comes from deep-pocket advertisers. For a company that raked in $61.2 billion in ad revenue in just one quarter (Q4 2021), Google will most likely pay attention. Even for a company that markets itself as staunchly pro-privacy, Apple made data harvesting concessions for wealthy clients like Snap, YouTube, and Facebook after the rollout of its ATT anti-tracking framework last year.


    Google’s privacy moves began with the FLoC project that was killed, so there’s always a sizeable room for doubting Google’s latest promises. Then there is the issue with proposals that Google is considering for bringing its Privacy Sandbox to Android. For showing ads, Google is considering the interest-based categorization system called Topics, while another one is Fledge, which harvests interaction history within an app. For measuring digital ads, Google is proposing Attribution Reporting to end user-level tracking, while the SDK Runtime system aims to limit suspicious tracking. The core premise for SDK Runtime is that it provides a separate environment for the ad code to run when implemented by a developer, stopping cross-talking between apps. Whether developers adopt it with open arms, or skirt around it, is another huge debate. Unlike Apple, Google aims to strike a middle ground between privacy and business-friendliness. If history is any indication, that’s not a good sign. Either way, Google isn’t making any immediate promises, with its latest blog simply talking about changes that will ‘some day’ arrive.


    Next: Apple Personalizes Its Own Tracking Ads So They Don’t Sound As Scary

    Sources: Google KeywordPrivacy Sandbox

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