Last year, Apple added transparency to tracking iOS apps, and the change in the flow of data from mobile users was enough to upset even Facebook. Google, which relies on targeted advertising for its business model, is now preparing its own multi-year adjustment to mobile ad tracking and privacy.
As of today, app developers can get their first look at the new system as the first review of the Privacy Sandbox for Android is released, following the path of similar tests in Google’s Chrome browser on the desktop.
This new plan should replace the existing Android Ad Identifier, which is a user-resetable ID for each device, with a “new, more private advertising solution” privacy environment. Similar to Apple’s approach, it claims to restrict data shared with third parties and cut out identifiers for different applications, but we still don’t know exactly which technology can be implemented. This developer preview runs on Android 13 Developer Beta, with images for Pixel phones from Pixel 4 to current Pixel 6 models.
Google’s theory is that it can find a way to better protect users’ privacy from existing solutions, while providing targeted advertising information that runs on websites like this and many free applications. Critics, including competitors, privacy advocates and regulators, have suggested that his approaches would harm privacy and possibly give Google an unfair advantage that harms competition. An antitrust lawsuit against Google by 15 state-owned AGs was leveled at Privacy Sandbox last year.
Developers who test it will get an early look at the Privacy Sandbox and Google’s cookie replacement API – and see how they might work in practice.
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