If you have ever searched for something on Google and then all the advertising and recommendations of Chrome that appear to you are on that topic, then you know very well how far the uncomfortable power of the cookies. In fact, most of the time you are the one who grants them.

For many years, those small files that sites and advertisers use to track your activity have been the basis of Internet that we know, financing almost all the content you consume for free.

But the pressure for user privacy grew so much that Google, the technology giant that controls the browser Chrome (the most used in the world), which in 2019 announced the project Sandbox Privacy and two years later he started it with one goal: ‘kill’ third-party cookies.

However, in April of this year Google announced that I would no longer carry out that plan– Instead of deleting third-party cookies in Chrome, you decided keep them and offer users some control options. And officially, on October 17, Sandbox Privacy was discontinued.

“As we have engaged with the ecosystem… it is clear that there are divergent perspectives on making changes that could affect the availability of third-party cookies. Users can continue to choose the best option for them in Chrome’s privacy and security settings,” said Anthony Chavez, vice president of the project, quoted by Reuters.

This is how the little digital spies called cookies work

To understand the impact that the elimination of the anti-cookie planfirst we must clarify what those are little digital spies that Google wanted to eliminate.

Imagine that you are browsing the Internet as if you were in a huge shopping center.

• Own cookies: These are the ones the store where you are uses. If you enter Amazon, the Amazon cookie remembers your shopping cart and your login. They are helpful and respect your privacy.
• Third party cookies: These are like little advertising agency spies that follow you out of the store. When you visit a travel blog page, the third-party cookie notes “This user is interested in going to the beach” and sell that information to another agency. Thus, hotel ads follow you on any other page you visit.

For more than two decades, the latter have financed digital advertisingmany times thanks to our famous click on “Accept all cookies“But they also represent a privacy riskby allowing outside companies to build a detailed profile of your tastes and habits.

What was Privacy Sandbox and why it failed

Now that we know how third-party cookies work, let’s now explore what that ambitious Privacy Sandbox project was about.

Before the regulatory pressure (especially in Europe) and the user fatigueGoogle proposed Privacy Sandbox to maintain the advertising without tracking users invasively. The plan was to replace individual monitoring with anonymous groups.

For example, instead of the advertiser knowing that you had searched for red cars and gym memberships, Google’s plan proposed that your own browser (Chrome) do the job of Sort your interests locally, secretlyand then only communicate to advertisers that the user is interested in cars and fitness.

According to the Privacy Sandbox portal, the most famous technology of this plan was Topics API (Themes API). The idea was that you would be protected in a “sandbox” where theExternal companies could not see your real identity, just your general interests. It was Google’s great attempt to find the balance between privacy and its business.

The reasons behind the ‘death’ of Privacy Sandbox

However, after years of testing, Google confirmed the withdrawal of most of the technologies that made up the Privacy Sandbox, as the project failed to satisfy the industry or regulators.

Its failure could be summarized in these two key points:

1. Market distrust: Advertisers and ad agencies didn’t trust Google’s new anonymous tools to be accurate enough to sell their products. They feared that without the detailed tracking of traditional cookies, their advertising revenue would plummet. Low industry adoption of the plan was the death knell.
2. Fear of monopoly: Antitrust regulators feared that Google owning the Chrome browser and new privacy tools would give it an unfair advantage. In essence, Google would have dictated the new rules of the game, further consolidating its dominance in the advertising market at the expense of the competition.

And how will this affect you on a day-to-day basis?

Although it sounds very technical, it is important that you know that this news impact your daily digital life.

Your data continues to be tracked as before

By not eliminating third-party cookies, many pages and advertisers They will continue to collect your browsing history to understand what sites you visit, what products you look at, and what ads they may show you. Third-party cookies allow an advertiser to identify you as a “person interested in X” even if you visit different sites.

Less hassle… but less protection too

Google says it will continue developing tools to offer more control to the user, but for now the system does not change radically. That means that:

• You can continue managing cookies from Chrome settings.
• But the original promise to “eliminate cross-tracking” remains pending, which for many people amounts to less privacy than expected.
• If you use Chrome, you won’t have the comparative advantage of other browsers that already block third party cookies by default (like Safari or Firefox).

And the benefits?

It’s still too early to tell, but perhaps this decision could bring some positive points, as Google maintains that moving gradually avoids “advertising chaos” and allows sites that depend on ads to survive. Plus, you now know that cookies are still active, giving you the power to decide how much exposure you accept.

Tips to survive cookies

• Check your privacy settings in Chrome: Go to Settings → Privacy and security → Cookies and other site data and decide if you want to block them or configure them manually.
• Consider other browsers: If you prefer greater protection Without as much cross-tracking, explore options like Firefox, Safari or the new Atlas ChatGPT which just launched OpenAI.
• Be aware of the permissions you give: If a site asks you to “accept cookies,” investigate which cookies you are accepting.
• Clear your cookies periodically: This does not eliminate all tracking, but it reduces the amount of information accumulated about you.
• Understand the business model behind ‘free content’: Many websites that don’t charge you depend on personalized advertising to finance themselves. Knowing this helps you evaluate What degree of exposure are you willing to accept?.