When Google Brainstorms, Online World Shudders

Google Is Considering Using a 'Super Cookie' to Track Browsing Habits

JOHN BUSSEY
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Is Google's proposed "anonymous identifier" about to do to online privacy what high-resolution body scanners did to airline travelers? John Bussey joins the News Hub with his take. (Photo: AP)

Is Google GOOG -0.20% about to do to online privacy what body scanners did to airline travelers?
It might seem that way given the reaction to a bit of news that, intentionally or not, leaked out of Google last week.
Google is considering using anonymous identifiers to track consumers' browsing habits online. This technology could eventually take the place of the controversial "cookies" that marketing outfits now plant on our computers to track where we go on the Web and then pitch us related products.
Google called any move good for "users' security" and the economics of the Internet. It said its concepts are at a very early stage and declined further comment.
Still, what might seem like just another incremental tech development set off alarms, and a lot of speculation, among privacy advocates and advertising firms. The reason, of course, is Google's dominance in our online lives. The company runs the most popular browser, Chrome; backed the most pervasive mobile operating system, Android; and has commanding positions in email and search.
Google also sells more online advertising than its competitors, capturing a third of the world's $117 billion in digital ad spending, says research firm eMarketer.
If the notion of an anonymous identifier strikes you as a contradiction in terms, you aren't alone.
"It's a persistent identifier, a super cookie," says Jeff Chester, head of the Center for Digital Democracy. "Google will gain more information about users wherever they are, across platforms and with one number. This will be the new way they identify you 24/7."
"Marketers use the mantra of anonymity to dissuade people of the creepiness of it all," says Joseph Turow, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Whether or not a company knows your name no longer matters, he says, because your identifier will still target you for sales opportunities "or prejudice." The latter might be an ad with a higher price than that offered someone whose anonymous data profile is more favorable.

Advertising Age, an industry publication, warned that any marketer "adopting Google's system would have to bend to whatever terms Google sets in how that technology and the information it surfaces can be used. In this scenario, Google rises from being the biggest card player at the table to owning the casino—with advertisers using its chips."
The initial news about Google's intentions, which USA Today broke, didn't mention using the identifier across platforms, such as smartphones and desktops. Nor has Google suggested this is the objective. In fact, little is really known about what Google plans to do, or how other marketers might—or might not—have access to a new identifier. The company may just want to duplicate what Apple has already done with its iPhone: Cookies don't work well on mobile, so Apple uses an individual identifier.
But there's also reason to think otherwise.
The ad industry has two big problems at the moment. The first is that cookies are not only controversially intrusive and inadequate trackers for the rocketing smartphone market. They're also unreliable and can be blocked on other devices. The industry is looking for a better mousetrap.
And second: Cross-platform identification is indeed the Holy Grail. Marketers want to efficiently target advertising whether we're on our smartphones, tablets, laptops or desktops.
Forrester Research estimates that by the end of 2013 almost half the adults who use the Internet in the U.S. will be "perpetually connected consumers." It defines that group as those who use at least three "connected" devices and who access the Internet multiple times a day from different locations, including mobile. That number was 38% in 2011.
A raft of companies offers different strategies to help advertisers analyze their campaigns over multiple devices. But if you're looking to truly track users across this ecosystem, nothing beats dominating the platforms.
Google is the 800-pound gorilla. So it's no surprise that the scope of its nascent initiative— will its new identifier be for Android alone or much more?—is being watched warily.
And with a bit of suspicion, too. Google hasn't been a champion of privacy. It is, like any company, a champion of revenue, and advertising is its wellspring.
During recent negotiations between privacy advocates and the online advertising industry over a "Do Not Track" protocol, Google was among the more resistant, according to participants. The talks have since all but collapsed.
Apple's Safari browser blocks third-party cookies. Mozilla's Firefox is working on a comprehensive default blocking option. Microsoft Explorer sends a "Do Not Track" message to marketers (which advertisers can ignore). Google's Chrome has resisted these measures, though users can alter their settings to block cookies.
Instead, Chrome and other services in Google's online empire are configured to vacuum up information on consumers' behavior. It's probably a safe bet that any new identifier the company creates will do so more efficiently, more pervasively, and more exclusively to Google's benefit.
—Write to John Bussey at john.bussey@wsj.com; follow @johncbussey on Twitter Write to John Bussey at john.bussey@wsj.com

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