The latest breach of Google's old "do no evil" motto is here: FLoC. As ever, Jeremy has written a well-reasoned and nuanced take on why it's likely a bad idea, both for the web in general and Google in particular.
There's a lot of interesting points in his article, but I think one of the elements that really stood out is the combination of no-EU rollout and that Google have claimed that FLoC will ultimately be opt-in. The first highlights how the technology is likely a privacy concern in the first place; the second is a way around GDPR but one which I can't imagine many sites would go for. What's the incentive? Unless, of course, Google throws its weight around again *cough* AMP *cough*...
... one part of the business is building a user agent while a different part of the company is working on ways of tracking end users. It’s almost as if one company shouldn’t simultaneously be the market leader in three separate industries: search, advertising, and web browsing.
Now Google’s monopoly in advertising is compromising the integrity of its browser. In both cases, it makes it hard for Chrome devs claiming to have the web’s best interests at heart.
