Google to finally discontinue tracking cookies – but they’ll still be keeping a close eye on you

Tracking cookies out, global fingerprinting in, and all your devices are included

Google is discontinuing tracking cookies but it’s not good news for privacy.

Google is finally killing off tracking cookies in the latest update to its Chrome browser and Android operating system. However, it won’t just continue tracking users using digital fingerprinting technology capable of following people across all their devices, including smart TVs, but will now enable advertisers to collect IP addresses.

Google had long promised to discontinue using tracking cookies in the name of improving people’s privacy and had dismissed ‘digital fingerprinting’ as a technique that would “undermine people’s privacy”, just like tracking cookies.

Digital fingerprinting involves taking the data provided by the web browser about someone’s machine and using that information to develop a unique identifier or ‘fingerprint’. That information includes details such as the type of monitor, the fonts installed, the web browser used, and so on.

Back in 2019, Google pledged to “find a solution that both really protects user privacy and also helps content remain freely accessible on the web”, but it appears that the privacy advocates at the company lost the argument.

Google justified the far-reaching new approach to privacy – the opposite of its past promises – by claiming that the update to platform policies introduced this month reflected “innovations in the ads ecosystem”.

It claimed that “privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs), such as on-device processing, trusted execution environments, and secure multi-party computation” have unlocked “new ways for brands to manage and activate their data safely and securely [while giving] people the privacy protections they expect”.

The shift, it admitted, is also driven by the range of connected devices that people use, particularly connected TVs, which advertisers want to be able to target as people move from device-to-device. “Businesses that advertise on connected TVs need the ability to connect with relevant audiences and understand the effectiveness of their campaigns.”

In other words, the latest updates enable more tracking at a granular level, which appears to go right down to IP address – although the company is not explicit about this – whilst Google claims it is providing greater privacy.

Google is hazy when it comes to spelling out exactly what these privacy protections are, how they work and how they will be applied. Moreover, while the company’s December 2024 update announcement passed largely unnoticed, data protection regulators are now looking into it.

France’s CNIL, for example, admitted that while digital fingerprinting is not illegal, its use is regulated and that users must be able to give (or withdraw) informed consent.

Nevertheless, Google insists that it is not ‘being evil’. Introducing the changes, it claimed: “Even as technologies change, our privacy principles remain the same. We continue to give users choice over personalized ads. And we continue to require advertisers and publishers to be fully transparent with users about the data they collect and how it is used.”

In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in January launched an investigation into the company, focusing on its dominance in search and advertising markets.

The inquiry is intended to assess the impact of Google's practices on consumers, businesses, advertisers, publishers and rival search engines, amidst concerns over potential anti-competitive behaviour and exploitative data collection.