• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, November 25, 2019

Google has rolled out a new privacy tool that will enable web advertisers and publishers that use Google's ad services to curb behavioral targeting.

The “restricted data processing” tool is aimed at helping web companies comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act, set to take effect in January. Among other provisions, that law allows consumers to opt out of the sale or transfer of their data.

“When you enable restricted data processing, Google will limit how it uses data. Certain features will be unavailable, including adding users to remarketing lists, adding users to similar audience remarketing seed lists, and related functionality,” the company says in a blog post. “For App campaigns, enabling restricted data processing may mean that the users who install your app will continue to see ads for that app following installation.”

California's privacy law has an exception that appears to allow companies to transfer data to “service providers” for business purposes -- even if consumers have opted out of the sale or transfer of that data. '

Google suggests in its blog post that the business-purpose exception will allow the company to continue to use “restricted” data for a host of purposes.

“With respect to data to which restricted data processing applies, these business purposes include ad delivery, reporting and measurement, security and fraud detection, debugging, and improving and developing features for the products we offer you,” Google writes.