- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
- Devine leads New Zealand to big win over India in Women's T20 World Cup
- Bosnia floods kill 16 people
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Prosecutors seek dismissal of rape charges against French rugby players
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- Bolivia's Morales says claims he raped a minor are a 'lie'
- MLB Reds hire two-time champion Francona as manager
- Daniel Maldini receives first Italy call-up for Nations League
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- Ancelotti points finger at Madrid's 'lack of intensity'
- Haiti reeling after 70 killed in gang attack
- Five Czech kids in hospital over TikTok 'piercing challenge'
- What happens next in Iran-Israel conflict?
- Country star Garth Brooks denies rape accusations
- Stubbs hits maiden century as South Africa make 343-4 against Ireland
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Odegaard injury has forced Arsenal to be 'different', says Arteta
- Ratcliffe refuses to guarantee Ten Hag's Man Utd future
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Mauritius to hold legislative election on November 10
- Britain qualify for America's Cup final after 60-year wait
- IMF asks Sri Lanka to protect hard-won gains
- Morata returns to Spain Nations League squad after injury
- Irish regulator to probe Ryanair use of facial recognition
- Public allowed to see video evidence in France mass rape trial
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- Under-fire Ten Hag 'together' with Man Utd hierarchy
- Guardiola talks of Man City love affair as financial hearing rumbles on
- De Bruyne out of Belgium Nations League squad
- Japanese trainer Yahagi hopes Shin Emperor achieves 50-year-old Arc dream
- UK's Starmer hails 'landmark' carbon capture funding
- As EU targets Chinese cars, European rivals sputter
- Bosnia floods kill 14 people
- Tennis world number one Swiatek splits with coach Wiktorowski
Google pushes new plan to overhaul web-tracking cookies
Google on Tuesday announced a new plan to stop using small files known as cookies to track people's web browsing habits, after its previous proposals were roundly criticised.
US tech giants are under huge pressure to overhaul the way they collect data -- Google was fined 150 million euros ($169 million) by France earlier this month over its cookie policies.
Privacy campaigners have pushed hard against the use of cookies, which transmit users' information often to dozens of companies each time they visit a website.
But the files form the backbone of the online advertising industry that has proved hugely profitable for Google and their customers.
The company said on Tuesday it would trial a new system called "Topics", which it said would protect privacy while continuing to allow targeted advertising.
Chrome users will still be tracked and the websites they visit and advertising partners will be given three topics -- broad themes supposed to correspond to their interests -- based on the user's browsing history.
However, the firm said the process of generating topics would take place entirely on the user's device -- even Google itself will not have access.
Advertisers will only be able to retain the topics for three weeks, and Chrome users will have the option of opting out entirely.
"Topics" replaces an earlier idea floated by Google called "Federated Learning of Cohorts", which caused consternation among advertisers and the media industry.
Critics said the FLoC system would allow Google to hoard user data for itself and cut third parties out of the loop.
"Topics was informed by our learning and widespread community feedback from our earlier FLoC trials, and replaces our FLoC proposal," said senior Google official Vinay Goel.
Internet companies have faced stricter rules since the EU passed a massive data privacy law in 2018 obliging firms to seek direct consent of users before installing cookies on their computers.
Privacy campaigners have filed hundreds of complaints against companies including Google and Facebook arguing that they make it much easier to opt in than to opt out.
L.Torres--PC