Google has replaced the FLOC targeting technology with the Topics API

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The new Privacy Sandbox concept uses users' browsing histories to determine which topics to share with websites and marketers. Hire Top rated professional from a website development company in Dubai.

The new Privacy Sandbox concept uses users' browsing histories to determine which topics to share with websites and marketers. Hire Top rated professional from a website development company in Dubai.
Google stated on Tuesday that Topics, a new approach to interest-based targeting, will replace Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC). The Subjects API avoids the need for third-party servers by selecting topics of interest based on the user's browsing history.

Google plans to launch a developer trial of Topics in Chrome, which will include user controls. According to Google, experimentation and feedback will determine the final version of Topics' user controls and other technological capabilities.

How Topics Will Function
"With Themes," Google clarified, "your browser picks several topics, such as 'Fitness' or 'Travel,' that represent your key interests for that week based on your browsing history."

When a user visits a participating location, they are asked to select three topics to share with the site and its advertising partners (one from each of the previous three weeks). The browser can be linked to up to five different themes. Subject selection is done purely on the device itself, with no assistance from Google's servers or any other third party.
According to Chrome product director Ben Galbraith, "This is a starting point; we may see this increase to the low thousands or remain in the hundreds [of themes]." This list could expand to cover tens of thousands of themes, or it could stay in the hundreds for the time being.

According to a Google spokesman, the search engine looks at the URL or subdomain of a website rather than the language of the content itself.

The Topics API "does not give nor receive a subject if a site does not participate," according to Galbraith. Neither the site nor its advertising partners are prohibited from accessing the Topics API.

Google also explained the topic concept in technical terms.

FLoC and topics are different ideas. One of the primary differences between Google's prior targeting technique, FLoC, and the Topics API is that Topics does not categorize users into cohorts. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) notes that fingerprinting techniques can be used to differentiate a user's browser from thousands of others in the same cohort and provide an individual identification for that browser.
This data is used to assign individuals to cohorts, and new cohorts are formed each week based on the previous week's surfing statistics using the FLoC browser. Every week, the Subjects API selects subjects based on the user's browser history; however, the topics are only saved for three weeks.

FLoC uses a cohort ID to engage with sites and marketers, whereas Themes chooses three topics.
Controls and privacy safeguards are provided for each topic. Google is developing new tools that will allow Chrome users to see the topics with which they have been associated. Users will be able to remove or disable specific subjects. There are currently no plans to allow users to create their own subjects.

Furthermore, Google claims that the subjects were chosen to eliminate sensitive categories such as ethnicity or sexual orientation.
Only time will tell which browsers will be adopted. Google did not have the opportunity to test the Topics API with other browsers while it was under development. It's unlikely that any of the other browsers will follow Chrome's lead and implement the FLoC replacement this time around.

According to Galbraith, "We're providing the explanation, which is the first step in that process of discussing other browsers' viewpoints on the Topics API."

It is impossible to anticipate which browsers will be popular in the future. Google's Topics API is currently in its early phases of development; thus, other browsers have not had the opportunity to test it. Because Chrome was the only browser to accept its predecessor, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and other browsers are unlikely to follow suit this time (FLoC).
Finally, according to Galbraith, this is the first step toward addressing other browsers' concerns about the Topics API. "We're posting the explanation."


 

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