Google does the minimum in terms of protection against ad tracking

Google will soon make a change in favor of privacy on Android. But the ambitions of the search giant are very different from those of Apple.

In 2021, privacy sells. Apple, who understood this, rolled out its ad tracking blocking a few weeks ago. Now it's Google's turn to join the dance.

A less ambitious strategy than Apple

As the Financial Times noted in a June 3, 2021 article, Google will soon be rolling out new options to reduce ad tracking on Android. Starting with Android 12 (scheduled for next fall), Android mobile owners will be able to opt out of sharing their unique advertising IDs with all apps on their phone. But Google's strategy is much less ambitious than Apple's.

On the next version of Android, Google will give more options for the protection of privacy // Source: Google

On iOS, ad tracking is disabled by default, or rather, the system forces each app to request permission to track users. Result, according to the first figures collected by the analysis firm Flurry, worldwide only 15% of iPhone owners accept tracking. At Google, the option will be offered, but disabled by default, says Bloomberg. What considerably reduce the risk of a massive refusal from the public.

A well-hidden option

Because in reality, such an option already exists within the Android settings, but Google puts it very little forward. In Google settings, it is possible to deactivate the personalization of ads since 2013. What Google will make as a change is the fact of prohibiting tracking via indirect means. “The Advertising ID will be removed when a user opts out of personalization […]. Any attempt to access the identifier will receive a series of zeros instead of the identifier” specifies Google in its documentation for developers.

If the rollout of App Tracking Transparency at Apple has taught us anything, it's that the public makes the privacy choice when the question is posed head-on and in plain language. On the Android side, if the trade in personal data has not stopped, it's good that few people will dig into the settings to find this kind of option. The changeover that Google will operate is therefore not likely to upset things.

Read: iOS 14.5: How to Disable Ad Tracking on iPhone and iPad

We can only rejoice that Google is taking this subject seriously and finally offering real protections to its users, but the company does not go so far as to shoot itself in the foot. Google remains above all an advertising network.

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