Technology for a more private internet
The Privacy Sandbox technologies aim to make browsing the web and apps more private for users, while giving publishers, developers, and advertisers what they need for their business. Learn more about the Privacy Sandbox proposals, going deeper into how they reduce cross-site and cross-app tracking.
What is the Privacy Sandbox?
The Privacy Sandbox is an industry-wide effort to develop new technology that
will improve people’s privacy across the Web and apps on Android. The proposed
solutions will limit tracking of individuals and provide safer alternatives to
existing technology on these platforms while keeping them open and accessible to
everyone.
People should be able to enjoy their browsing and app
experience without worrying about what personal information is collected, and by
whom. The Privacy Sandbox technologies aim to make current tracking mechanisms
obsolete, and block covert tracking techniques, like fingerprinting.
Key Privacy Technologies
The Topics API, Protected Audience API, and Attribution Reporting API are key
technologies of the Privacy Sandbox. They replace less private mechanisms that
have been used to run online advertising. Businesses can still reach users based
on interests and understand how their online ads are performing, but users have
better privacy protections and more control over their data.
Topics API
The Topics API is designed to preserve privacy while showing relevant content and ads. It provides a high-level signal of a user’s interests based on recent browsing history, to help sites and apps serve relevant ads.
There are two main parts to Topics. First, the API labels each website from a set of recognizable, high-level topics. For example, the browser would match a sports website with the topic "Sports". Then, the browser collects a few of the most frequent topics associated with the websites you’ve visited. These topics are then shared (one new topic per week) with the sites you visit to help advertisers show you more relevant ads, without needing to know the specific sites you’ve visited.
You will be able to see the topics and remove any you don’t like, or disable
them completely.
Learn more about the Topics API
Protected Audience API
The Protected Audience API, formerly known as FLEDGE API, is a Privacy Sandbox proposal to serve custom audience and remarketing use cases, designed so third parties cannot track user browsing behavior across sites.
Today, if you visit a website, third-party cookies can be used to show you relevant ads later on, but a lot of your browsing history is exposed and too much of your information can be collected by third parties. With Protected Audience, advertising technology companies can show you ads, but information about your browsing stays private.
On mobile apps, the concept is the same – with Protected Audience, an adtech can show you ads, but information about your app activity stays private.
Attribution Reporting API
The Attribution Reporting API helps advertisers measure the performance of their online ads without needing to track people’s activity across websites and apps.
Imagine you’re browsing the morning news and you see an ad for a pair of headphones that are on sale. You click on the ad to take a closer look. An adtech company can use Attribution Reporting to let an advertiser know that a purchase occurred, but keeps your individual browsing or app activity private – using methods like encryption, time delays, secure servers, and data aggregation and randomization.
The advertiser can see which of their ads was most effective, without individual identifiers being used in the process.
Frequently Asked Questions
I understand my personal data will be processed in accordance with Google’s Privacy Policy.