- Google has reversed its policy on ‘Digital Footprints’
- ‘Digital footprints’ is a technique used to collect personal data from users
- Users have very little said about what information is given to advertisers.
Do you sometimes want advertisers online to have access to further of your private information without your consent or knowledge? Well, you could be lucky.
As of February 16, 2025, Google allows ‘digital footprints’, which is a stealthy technique that tracks things like its IP addresses, screen resolution, operating systems and even battery percentage, until you have a spooky profile of you.
This practice will be particularly disturbing for the conscious of privacy among us, since it is practically impossible for users to control what information is collected and when. You can turn off all cookies, use all private browsers and use the best VPN money you can buy, but it could still be tracked with this technique.
Why the change of heart?
In his response, the United Kingdom’s information commissioner office declared that the fingerprints are “not a fair means to track online users because it is likely to reduce the choice and control of people on how It collects your information. “
The movement is a fairly marked turn of 180 degrees in terms of policy, considering that in 2019, Google condemned the practice of fingerprints, saying;
“Unlike cookies, users cannot clear their fingerprint and, therefore, cannot control how their information is collected. We believe that this subverts the user’s choice and is wrong. “
But the practice, “will help companies, large and small, with the opportunities of the evolving digital landscape,” says Google’s last statement, and claims to be “to meet the expectations of user privacy,” but can decide By yourself if you expectations meet this policy.
So what can you do about it? Unfortunately, not much. The ICO admits: “Even the users conscious of privacy will find this difficult to stop”, since the practice is more difficult to block for browsers, and is based on the signals that cannot easily erase, so to press “delete All data on the site “Do not hold the advertiser use the same fingerprint techniques to identify it again.
That said, some browsers, such as Firefox and the brave browser, have fingerprint protection characteristics that can reveal things such as hourly zone, language, fountains and language in website reports. There are also Google Chrome extensions such as the canvas blocker that can work similarly.
If you want more information, we have written a complete guide on what fingerprints it is and how to protect yourself.
