DuckDuckGo to block new ad-tracking tech of Google, but there’s a catch

Recently, Google introduced the FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts) tool to collect user browsing habits without relying on Cookies. And now the popular privacy protection search engine DuckDuckGo has also updated its anti-tracking plug-in developed for the Google Chrome browser and added the ability to block the Google FLoC tracker.

However, the tool does not tailor advertisements for each user but categorizes user groups, there is still a risk of privacy leakage. The FLoC shielding function will be launched in the browser plug-in version of DuckDuckGo 2021.4.8.

The official said that this update is still waiting for Google’s approval, but it is expected to be approved soon. If the user has already installed the DuckDuckGo extension, it will be updated automatically, otherwise, you need to visit the Chrome web store to install it.

Moreover, it is reported that the founder of DuckDuckGo said that FLoC is not conducive to privacy. This feature is enabled by default to track user behavior and does not respect user privacy. If Google decides to promote the FLoC function, it should be clearly notified to the user, and it can be turned off manually.

Furthermore, the report also suggests that as the practice of third-party cookies for user privacy collection has been increasingly criticized, the effectiveness of this method is not as good as before. Therefore, Google tries to divide the groups by classifying users, which is convenient for advertisers to push.

Commenting on the updated Chrome add-on and FLoC, Gabriel Weinberg, the founder of DuckDuckGo said:

“FLoC is simply not good for privacy. It does behavioral tracking by default, and there is no such thing as a behavioral tracking mechanism imposed without consent that respects people’s privacy. That’s why if Google insists on moving forward with FLoC, they should make it explicitly opt-in for all users (free of dark patterns). In the meantime we are offering users the ability to opt-out through our DuckDuckGo Chrome extension that has one single purpose: to provide holistic privacy protection in Chrome. It’s privacy, simplified.”

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| Via – Neowin |