“Google, the world’s largest Internet search company, is considering a major change in how online browsing activity is tracked, a move that could shake up the $120 billion digital advertising industry,” Alistair Barr reports for USA Today.
“Google, which accounts for about a third of worldwide online ad revenue, is developing an anonymous identifier for advertising, or AdID, that would replace third-party cookies as the way advertisers track people’s Internet browsing activity for marketing purposes, according to a person familiar with the plan,” Barr reports. “The AdID would be transmitted to advertisers and ad networks that have agreed to basic guidelines, giving consumers more privacy and control over how they browse the Web, the person said, on condition of anonymity.”
Barr reports, “Apple’s Safari browser has blocked third-party cookies since its introduction in 2003, and the technology giant introduced its own ad identifiers for its iOS mobile platform last year. If Google follows through with its own version of this approach, that could give users more control over how they are tracked online. However, it will also put more power in the hands of two of the largest technology companies, according to some people in the advertising industry. ‘There could be concern in the industry about a system that shifts more of the benefits and control to operators like Google or Apple,’ said Clark Fredricksen of eMarketer, which tracks the digital ad industry.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Brawndo Drinker” and “Rainy Day” for the heads up.]
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