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More on #Google #Topics and the #adtech and #privacy implications from people who are smarter than me, check out the discussion on the #securitynow podcast by @leo Laporte and #stevegibson (the latter is not on Mastodon).
You can read and search the episode transcripts on Steve's website. Start with Episode 935, "TOPICS" ARRIVES. https://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm
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Full disclosure: @leo administers the Mastodon instance I belong to, which is associated with the #ThisWeekInTech podcast network that #securitynow is on. I'm a donor to the podcast network. Nobody asked me for a recommendation though.
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As for @leo and #stevegibson they frequently engage with issues surrounding #adtech #tracking and #privacy
They *really* know how user tracking works and all the ways in which we are tracked.
Steve in particular is a big fan of #Firefox and adblockers (so am I). This podcast has turned me on to a lot of privacy-preserving tools that I now use regularly and recommend to other people.
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#stevegibson and @leo are also kind of ambivalent about #Google and what it does with #adtech and its #monopoly power more broadly - although sometimes it uses its power to push for wider adoption of #cybersecurity best practices all over the web and in the industry.
If you really want to keep up on what #Google is doing and whether it's good, bad, ugly, or all of the above, they're good people to consult.
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So it's significant that @leo and #stevegibson who are #Firefox fanboys and adblocking evangelists have a broadly positive take on #Google #Topics (they still prefer Firefox!).
They suspect that Google sees the writing on the wall. As demands for #privacy online grow louder and legislation follows, Google wants to be prepared, so they're working on a compromise.
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#adtech tracking and associated #datamining and brokering at this point basically creates a dossier on our whole lives that includes where we have lived, who we associate with, our sensitive personal health information, and our sensitive personal financial information.
If/when new laws and regulations in the medium term make this unfeasible, #Google wants to be prepared.
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The preparation #Google is making for a future crackdown on invasive #adtech tracking and data mining is something like #Topics which doesn't compile a dossier but instead asks:
"What has this device's browser/app activity indicated a general interest in during the last three weeks?"
Which is a lot less invasive, generally.
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So if you are:
A queer, pregnant woman living in Dercatur, IL who runs a business restoring old cars, likes folk music, and recently came into a small inheritance that's tied up in probate
Current #adtech #tracking (probably) knows all this about you. Eek!
All #Google #Topics will know about you is that you like antique/classic cars and folk music, not anything about your sexual orientation, your pregnancy status, or your money situation. By design.
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The idea, #Google hopes, is that #Topics will survive privacy legislation that bans "compiling a dossier" style #adtech #tracking
They are piloting it now to see if it works. Because of Google's dominance over the browser ecosystem with #Chrome and over online advertising generally, they're the only entity in a position to do something like this.
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@leo and #stevegibson (and I) strongly suspect that this is a long-term survival thing for #Google. I would say that it's mitigating a future statutory, regulatory, and/or reputational risk because I am a #cybersecurity and #riskmanagement nerd.
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That said if you still want to switch to #Firefox, go ahead and do so.
If you make the switch to Firefox or area already doing so, make sure to use plugins like EFF's PrivacyBadger and some kind of adblocker like UBlock Origin. Also turn on Private Browsing Mode.
Use a good password manager like BitWarden or 1Password.
And consider a solid VPN such as ExpressVPN.
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/features/private-browsing/
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@MisuseCase thanks for the write up / summary. I pretty much agree with this point of view. Another view; we know how the topic list looks now. How will that change in the future (it will change)?
The topic information from the API (that will be freely available to anyone that asks the browser) together with other known information about a user may reveal be enought to put 1+1 together. The topic information may also be stored and used for a more extensive profile by sites you visit often.
@haagen Google’s spec talks about how things might be added to the Topics list in the future (basically by industry/professional association committee review process).
The underlying protocol is supposed to make your topic history ephemeral, I am not totally sure how that’s guaranteed TBH. But most of it relies on the client/browser, which, if it’s Chronium based, is under Google’s control. So if they find some flaw or abuse they can do something about it. /1
@haagen As for deriving sensitive information from combinations of non-sensitive information, this is always a potential problem, and the nature of the topics themselves is meant to mitigate this risk. So is the proposed review process for adding new topics.
And the feature that throws random topics into the mix every so often.
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@haagen It deliberately leaves out things that can point to personally identifiable information or health information - “heath and wellness” is a topic, generalized and purposefully broad.
There is nothing about one’s location, age, or financial status.
It’s hard to pinpoint anyone with a combination of any of these, by design.
/end