14 DAY TRIAL // Google has recently announced a series of changes for the way cookies are handled by Chrome browser, as it’s looking into new ways to enhance user privacy when browsing the web.
First of all, Google says it wants to fight web unpredictability by requiring developers to “explicitly” reveal which cookies are allowed to work on their pages. These cookies could be used to track users, and Google says it’ll turn to a system based on the web’s SameSite cookie attribute.
Google will begin requiring developers to use these cookie controls later this year, according to a timeline published by company after its I/O conference.
“This change will enable users to clear all such cookies while leaving single domain cookies unaffected, preserving user logins and settings. It will also enable browsers to provide clear information about which sites are setting these cookies, so users can make informed choices about how their data is used,” the company explains.
Updated protections against fingerprinting
In addition to the obvious benefit, Google says that these changes could also improve security because the cookies would be protected against common attacks like cross-site injection and data disclosure.
Google is also making changes related to the protections it offers to users again fingerprinting.
“Because fingerprinting is neither transparent nor under the user’s control, it results in tracking that doesn’t respect user choice. This is why Chrome plans to more aggressively restrict fingerprinting across the web. One way in which we’ll be doing this is reducing the ways in which browsers can be passively fingerprinted, so that we can detect and intervene against active fingerprinting efforts as they happen,” Google says.
Developers can already begin experimenting with the new mechanism and test their sites with the updated cookies with the most recent developer build of Chrome.