What's new in Google Chrome - Transparency, choice and control over ads
Digital advertising has made it possible to obtain open access to quality information, allowing many sites to monetize their online presence. It has changed the way people study, work and play, managing to spread the internet to the whole world.
However, the business model of many ad-based websites could be at risk if digital advertising practices do not evolve with user expectations. An important factor is how our information is obtained and used when visiting a page.
We know that when browsing the web, users prefer to see personalized ads based on their needs and interests, as long as they offer transparency, choice and control over advertising. Either way, the digital ad ecosystem can be complex and confusing, leaving many users to feel like they don't have enough control over their web experience.
New ways of protection and control in Chrome
A few days ago Chrome announced its plans to improve the control that users have over "cookies" in order to protect the privacy of those who browse the web. For this, the browser has made the process of blocking or cleaning "cookies" hosted by third-party pages (unvisited sites) easier, without interfering with the data hosted on the pages that have actually been visited. While Chrome has previously allowed users to block "cookies," this change allows web surfers to keep their passwords stored on certain websites and block unwanted advertisers.
Chrome also announced that it will further restrict third-party sites that perform practices called "fingerprinting", which store the browsing data left by users through the web. With this measure, when a user limits the tracking of information from third-party sites, they also do so with these pages that try to save their browsing preferences. In this sense, Google does not perform "fingerprinting" or data storage practices of its users to segment ads, in order to offer a service with greater transparency.
This change allows users to make decisions about how to control the use of their information and thus improve the advertising to which they are exposed, with the certainty that their preferences and information are respected.
A new level of transparency in ads
This communication from Chrome seeks to show its commitment to its users by improving transparency, choice and control over ads. There are several tools in Google so that users can configure the types of ads they see, allowing to turn on or turn off elements in a general or individual way and thus block the advertising of a particular company. Likewise, the browser seeks that users have a better knowledge of which companies obtain their information and how it is used to segment ads.
In the first step regarding the ads that Google shows within its own platform, the company will share information from other open source browsers and search engines. Said information will include the names of those companies that participated in the process prior to the user being hit with an advertisement. For example, those intermediary companies between advertisers and users will be shown as well as the factors used to adapt an advertisement to a user.
In the same way, particular information about each ad that a user sees will be exposed, as well as a record of those pieces that have been shown recently. In any case, from Chrome they report that they will make this process of exposing information easier in the near future.
Along the same lines, the browser seeks to offer a simple means for others in the advertising industry to display this type of information. For this reason, Chrome has created applications that allow other advertising companies to disclose such data to users.
It is important to note that the fact that Chrome opens its doors to its users to know which of their information is shared, will lead other players in the industry to follow this path of transparency. Likewise, Google will create tools that allow searching and analyzing data both for themselves and for others, respecting the privacy of users.
Finally, the intention of Google is to determine what are the best practices in terms of transparency and ad personalization. This allows users to be impacted by content that is relevant to them with the peace of mind that their information is protected. Share in the comments if you have made any changes to the ad preferences filter and if you have noticed the difference.
