On 14 January 2020, Google broke the news that Chrome will phase out support for third-party cookies on Chrome within the next 2 years in order to “build a more private web” (official announcement here). The move is expected to have profound consequences for the modern web, given Chrome’s overwhelming market share (more than 63% globally). As an alternative to third-party cookies, Google has proposed a series of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) within the context of its Privacy Sandbox. Yet many questions remain unanswered and fears are expressed that Google’s move will strengthen the walled gardens (aka Google, Facebook, Amazon).
For a tentative (and critical!) analysis of Chrome’s policy change, read this short paper by Damien Geradin and Dimitrios Katsifis. Comments are most welcome!
