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The EFF has created a webpage that checks if FLoC is enabled in the browser. Google runs an origin trial in its Chrome web browser at the time of writing that affects 0.5% of users in select regions. Test whether FLoC is enabled in your browser In order to to that, Google needs to analyze the data based on these sensitive categories. Cohorts should not related to "sensitive categories" such as race, gender or religion, and to avoid this, the algorithm needs to tweak groups to avoid implicating a user based on such a group.FLoC, when combined with user identifying technologies, such as account sign-ins, gives site owners and advertisers a clear picture of the user's interest.Website operators and advertisers learn about a user's interests when the user visits the site, even if it is the first visit.Here are the main points of criticism leveled against FLoC at the time of writing: You can check out the EFF's Google's FLoC is a Terrible Idea to better understand why FLoC is not necessarily better for Internet users in terms of privacy and tracking.Ī final FLoC standard has not been released yet and many things are still discussed and modified. While that sounds like a nice thing to do on first glance, it is not.
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A cohort is made up of thousands of users who share similar interests. Basically, what it does is assign a user to a cohort - FLoC stands for Federated Learning of Cohorts. If you have not heard about FLoC yet, it is Google's attempt to shift advertising from a cookie-based system to one that does not require cookies anymore.
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