In May 2018, the GDPR came into force, a tool created for greater and better privacy protection for European citizens. In three years, what has changed? Certainly, on the legal level, consumers’ privacy is better protected. Companies are equipped to inform customers that they are collecting data, protection and data integrity. As a result, users have also become more aware of their privacy and the value of personal data in general.
All of us can accept or reject, by entering a website, two types of tracking: statistical and profiling. The latter collect information for advertising purposes. If we do not accept third-party cookies, the advertising platforms are a bit confusing: on the one hand they receive less data than expected but above all they have no visibility on the choice made by the user. Result: fewer and more inaccurate data. Third-party cookies, unlike first-party cookies, do not belong to the person who manages the website but to a third party and serve to profile the user, that is, to reconstruct and analyze his browsing habits in order to be able to propose targeted advertisements.
And here comes into play Google, which launches (in beta version) the Consent mode feature, to allow you to have information completely anonymous, that is cookieless. Respecting your choice and at the same time guaranteeing information to the company. It is not a platform, does not provide for interactions or requests for consent by the user: the Consent mode is based on the actions of the user on the cookie banner already present. Based on your choices, Google platforms receive anonymous information that only records the page view and any parameters in the URL. Data sent anonymously even if the user does not accept some categories of consent, which makes the GDPR compliant Consent mode.
Will Google’s new solution be enough to convince the Authorities? The invasiveness that profiling systems have achieved in recent years has often attracted the attention of the Authorities: not always the regulations and penalties applied served to protect users online. Why remove these third-party cookies, then? Justin Schuh, director of Google Engineering for Chrome, spoke about Google’s desire to “make the web more private and secure for users”.
Could Consent Mode be a game changer for the future of online privacy? It might be. The data collected by Google is used to create predictive models, allowing for more precise and accurate analysis, especially for the advertising sector. Despite the beta mode, the Consent mode can be used to activate machine learning when third-party cookies are completely disabled by all browsers. For companies, the installation of this feature allows you to avoid data loss while safeguarding people’s privacy. The advice of LEN Solution is to provide for the installation of the Consent mode functionality using a technical partner and after discussion with the Data Protection Officer.
