Google Shifts Tracking To Digital Fingerprinting Raising Privacy Concerns

Maintaining online privacy will always be the biggest challenge on the internet. Companies with online service in any way or form will most likely track their users for advertising and other purposes. Unfortunately, even with the increased consciousness of security from users, online companies are also reacting to these trends and proposing something different and potentially harmful.

Rise and Fall of Cookies

Internet users witnessed an uptick in online security when the EU enforced the “General Data Protection Regulation” which gives users an option to reject optional cookies that may be used to track and obtain their information without consent. This enforcement was even pushed further in the UK with an order to “redesign cookie prompts to include a clear, straightforward way for consumers to accept or reject all non-essential cookies, keeping in line with current data protection laws” according to Bit Defender in November 2023.

With optional cookies, advertisers and other online companies who need to know more about their users are facing a big challenge to tailor-make their advertising and products. Unfortunately, this led to something more unsettling - and Google is leading the way.

A Closer Look At Digital Fingerprinting

Digital fingerprinting is a method of creating profiles by online companies to learn more about their users. Instead of using cookies to track their users' behavior, they simply record their users' preferences, interactions, online habits, and more. It's an alarming scenario, since it basically places the user front and center in a different form of tracking.

Google recently provided an update on its tracking method in its Marketing Platform post for December 2024. In the post, Google pointed to two changes that would “reflect the latest evolutions in technology and meet our partners’ needs and users’ expectations.”

First is the PET or Privacy-Enhancing Technologies that would push tracking to a whole new level because it offers device-based processing - your phone, laptop, Smart TV and more will undergo a microscope level of tracking to learn more about you. It will not intentionally learn your name and location but it will learn more about it through the websites you visit and other online interactions you do.

The second change is the expansion to other devices for monitoring. As already said, Google will extend their PET not only on common devices such as mobile phones and computers but to other devices with potential for advertising as user profiling as well. Your Smart TV is about to be a goldmine for advertisers.

Reaction To Google’s Announcement

Reactions to Google’s announcement as expected is not positive. UK’s ICO, the Information Commissioner’s Office, is strongly against fingerprinting as explained in their post:

“The ICO’s view is that fingerprinting is not a fair means of tracking users online because it is likely to reduce people’s choice and control over how their information is collected. The change to Google’s policy means that fingerprinting could now replace the functions of third-party cookies.”

ICO basically laments the lack of user control when it comes to fingerprinting and demanding that Google and other platforms must ensure and demonstrate privacy is observed as originally agreed or else ICO will be forced to act.

Google's shift to digital fingerprinting really raises concerns about user privacy and control. No doubt, as the digital landscape evolves, users, regulators, and companies all have to work together to protect privacy while ensuring transparency.