As ad tech firms test ways to connect Google’s FLoC to other data, privacy watchers see fears coming true

Google’s automated cookieless ad targeting method — or Federated Learning of Cohorts — is supposed to protect privacy by providing people with a greater degree of anonymity than the third-party cookie offered. Instead, it may make it quicker and easier for advertising companies to identify and access information about people online.

As privacy and data ethics advocates warned, companies are starting to combine FLoC IDs with existing identifiable profile information, linking unique insights about people’s digital travels to what they already know about them, even before third-party cookie tracking could have revealed it. And identity tech firms say the IDs will help improve the accuracy of systems that detect people’s identities and could even serve as persistent identifiers.

“The more signals we have, the more accurate we are, and FLoC IDs will be among signals we use,” said Mathieu Roche, CEO of identity tech firm ID5. 

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