In a commitment to settle an antitrust investigation,
Google said it would collaborate with U.K. regulators to remove user-tracking technology from its Chrome browser.
The company is under pressure from privacy regulators to rid third-party
cookies from the process of ad targeting. The commitments include Google giving regulators at least 60 days notice before removing cookies to review, and potentially impose changes, with regards
to any plan.
In 2020, Google announced plans to no longer support third-party cookies in the Chrome browser. Advertising companies have since expressed concerns Google would benefit from the
move, because it has other ways to track users such as using search engine and Chrome data.
The U.K. competition authority plans to give competitors until July 8 to comment on Google’s
proposed commitments before deciding whether to make them binding, explains the Wall Street Journal.
“The emergence of tech giants such as Google has presented competition authorities around the world with new challenges that require a new approach,” said Andrea Coscelli, chief
executive of the U.K. competition authority, told the WSJ.
This is one instance of many in which Google has been forced to make changes in the way it collects and uses consumer
data. All the while the U.S. government plans to draft a strategy that would potentially give researchers access to scores of data about Americans, from demographics to information on health and
driving habits.
The group--the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Task Force (NAIRRTF)--made up 12 members from academia, government, and industry led by officials from the
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Science Foundation was announced Thursday.
Census data, medical records, and more could potentially become available for
research by both private companies and academic institutions, according to the WSJ report.