The end of Third-Party cookies
Pressure from regulators and consumers has led many within the tech industry to declare third-party cookies will soon come to an end. In this section we will discuss the changes that major players are doing and how it will impact digital advertising market.
Why Third-Party cookies are blocked
User privacy has been and always will be a huge concern when browsing the internet as it can be a daunting online experience when you feel exposed. This is why companies like Apple and Mozilla, in particular, have been at the forefront when it comes to protecting your privacy while browsing with Safari or Firefox.
Implementing and increasing security features to protect the privacy of users is nothing new and has been going on for years now, and for the most part website users will actually benefit from it. One of the first companies to do so is Apple and Mozilla, while others are yet to follow.
Full Third-Party Cookie blocking by Safari
Apple first launched Safari Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) within Safari on 2017, where it immediately set a new bar for web privacy standards on both desktop and mobile by blocking some, but not all, cookies by default.
With the beginning of spring of 2020 Apple launched a major update to its ITP, the privacy feature that allows the company’s web browser to block cookies and prevent advertisers from snooping on your web habits. In simple sense - Safari by default blocked all third-party cookies. That means that no advertiser or website is able to follow you around the internet using the commonplace tracking technology.
To blocking third-party cookies across the board and by default, ITP now has safeguards against trackers using the very nature of tracking prevention as a way to keep tabs on users. The new feature set also ensures that websites and trackers can’t use login IDs to digitally fingerprint users who might otherwise be using tracking prevention or other privacy tools.
Firefox blocks Third-Party cookies
On 2019 Firefox announced that their Enhanced Tracking Protection will automatically be turned on by default for all users worldwide as part of the ‘Standard’ setting in the Firefox browser and will block known "third-party tracking cookies".
Enhanced Tracking Protection works behind-the-scenes to keep a company from forming a profile of you based on their tracking of your browsing behavior across websites — often without your knowledge or consent. Those profiles and the information they contain may then be sold and used for purposes you never knew or intended. Enhanced Tracking Protection helps to mitigate this threat and puts you back in control of your online experience.
Mozilla follows a different approach when blocking trackers and cookies than Apple does. Instead of blocking or limiting all third-party and client side cookies by default, Firefox uses the Disconnect list to determine whether a cookie should be blocked or not. This curated list contains thousands of known tracking companies and is updated on a regular basis. The reasoning behind this decision is to keep the web experience as seamless and functional as possible, since some cookies are crucial for web building.
Chrome will block Third-Party cookies
In many cases this development is a direct reaction to new security holes, workarounds, aggressive tracking and shady business techniques and will most likely continue in the future.