Google is about to shake things up in its Chrome browser by turning off third-party cookies real soon. In an inside scoop, Google software engineer Johann Hofmann spilled the beans in an internal email, revealing plans to cut off third-party cookies for 1% of Chrome users starting Q1 2024. But, hold your horses, they’re still waiting for the UK Competition and Markets Authority to give the green light in a consultation. Once that’s sorted, they’ll roll out the cookie replacement program gradually from Q3 2024.
Why are they doing this? Well, it’s all about reducing cross-site tracking, but it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. This move could throw a wrench in sign-in processes, fraud protection, advertising, and even embedding cool third-party content on websites.
Google’s got a game plan called Privacy Sandbox, a set of APIs meant to tackle these challenges, and they made it available around September 2023. Now, other browsers like Firefox and Safari have already ditched third-party cookies, but Google is kinda like, “Hey, ours is even more secure and restrictive. Others might dig it too.”
To help developers brace for impact, Rowan Merewood from Privacy Sandbox Developer Relations shared some tips. He suggests auditing how third-party cookies are being used and testing to avoid any nasty surprises. So, get ready for a Chrome update that’s aiming to make your online experience a bit more private, but not without a few bumps in the road.
