Like some others, privacy-centric search engine DuckDuckGo has come out against the use of Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) by Google on its Web browser Chrome. DuckDuckGo said FloC was just another tracking method by Google, blaming the search engine for not giving an option to Chrome users to opt-out of it.
FLoC, as readers would know by now, is the latest offering by Google to introduce more user privacy in its data collection for directed advertisements across its platforms. It’s an alternative to browser cookies, & aims to cluster “large groups of people with similar interests.” This means that FLoC will be used to collect individual user data anonymously, as part of a larger group.
DuckDuckGo, however, said in a post on its official blog that FLoC was bad for privacy since it put users in a group based on their browsing history. Which means any Website can get that group FLoC ID to target & fingerprint users.
You can use the DuckDuckGo Chrome extension to block FLoC’s tracking, which is an enhancement to its tracker blocking and directly in line with the extension’s single purpose of protecting your privacy holistically as you use Chrome. DuckDuckGo Search is now also configured to opt-out of FLoC, regardless if you use the extension or app.
– DuckDuckGo
Image credit: DuckDuckGo
