By Samantha Jones-
Google’s ambitious Privacy Sandbox project, hailed as a breakthrough in online privacy, is facing regulatory hurdles as the UK.
While the ICO has not taken direct action yet, it has shared its apprehensions with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is independently evaluating the rollout of Privacy Sandbox.
The project, aimed at eliminating tracking cookies and enhancing user privacy, has encountered setbacks that have prompted Google to delay the deprecation of Chrome cookies. Previous delays were attributed to legal challenges, including an antitrust lawsuit by US state attorneys general and complaints leading to a European Commission investigation.
The UK ICO’s draft report, leaked to Wall Street Journal reporters, highlights discrepancies in the Privacy Sandbox system.
Although specifics about the loopholes are not fully disclosed, concerns align with criticisms from organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, questioning the system’s efficacy in preventing fingerprinting and potential sharing of data among Google’s services.
Privacy advocates have raised doubts about the effectiveness of Privacy Sandbox in preventing fingerprinting, a concern that led Google to abandon its original plan, the FLoC “Cohorts” system. The new “Topics” system aims to address these issues, but doubts persist about its ability to prevent fingerprinting via API calls.
Moreover, there are apprehensions about Google’s internal data sharing practices, as the rules governing first-party data collected by Google differ from those for third-party data. Critics argue that Privacy Sandbox could further consolidate Google’s dominance in the ad market, raising antitrust concerns.
While Privacy Sandbox’s privacy implications are significant, its potential anti-competitive effects