Google Chrome pushes browser history-based ad targeting
www.theregister.com
YMMV, based on where you are

Topics essentially works like this: rather than using cookies to track people around the web and figure out their interests from the sites they visit and the apps they use, websites can ask Chrome directly, via its Topics JavaScript API, what sort of things the user is interested in, and then display ads based on that. Chrome picks these topics of interest from studying the user’s browser history.

Isn’t this completely immoral? They are literally stealing the users private browsing history and uses it to boost their own profits.

  • GFGJewbacca@lemm.ee
    12·
    10 months ago

    I somehow doubt that Chromium is safe from this. I would imagine that anything built off of Chrome will have this implemented, because otherwise they’re just “leaving money on the table.”

        • Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
          1·
          10 months ago

          Already there. Been here since the Netscape Navigator days.

          It’s just that some people want to try the chrome-chromium route before landing in Firefox land.

          • Doc Blaze@lemmy.world
            3·
            10 months ago

            I think the best route for preventing browser fingerprinting is to use multiple browsers for different things. Firefox is of course always the long standing favorite, but chromium has a place on my OS as well.

            • Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
              2·
              10 months ago

              Thats also very true in a mobile environment. I have Firefox Focus for clicking random news links on Lemmy, normal Firefox for all the serious stuff, Brave for logging into Google services and Safari for those sites that refuse to work with Firefox.

              • Doc Blaze@lemmy.world
                21·
                10 months ago

                I’ll only use ungoogled pure chromium, that’s the only reason it can compete with good ole reliable FOSS Firefox for me. Brave’s track record at the moment is worse than Google’s to me.

    • Doc Blaze@lemmy.world
      1·
      10 months ago

      I’m was more talking about pure ungoogled chromium, as built from scratch or by popular Linux distributions. People that use commercial chromium browsers are already lost causes. Brave alone has more privacy red flags in its short existence than Google has in its over 2 decades.