Google is aiming to eliminate all third party cookies by 2020, according to a recent article by ABC Science.

‘Cookies’ have gained a somewhat infamous reputation beyond their sweet moniker. Third party cookies particularly are created by a party that is different to the website you are using, and are designed to help market a certain good to you as you surf across the web. Think of a pair of trousers you viewed once that now pop up in different advertisements across different websites. These are the sort of cookies Google wants to ban.

This comes amidst increasing demand by consumers for better privacy protection, according to Justin Schuh, Google’s director of Chrome Engineering.

This is not a particularly novel move, as according to the article Apple started doing the same thing back in 2017 with their browser Safari. It may however, indicate that banning third party cookies is increasingly becoming a trend as concern for consumer privacy becomes the dish du jour.

This doesn’t mean that businesses can’t collect data. There still remains first party cookies, and the article points out that Google collects a lot of valuable first-party data through their Maps app, Gmail and other software. What it does mean however, is that as scrutiny on consumer privacy and cyber security increases, businesses are learning how to respond in a way that is both palatable and protective of their own business interests. As technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, so too can business’ understanding of how to manage such data while not compromising consumers’ desire for security and privacy. We will inform you of any further updates.