While I once hoped 2017 would be the year of privacy, 2024 closes on a troubling note, a likely decrease in privacy standards across the web. I was surprised by the recent Information Commissioner’s Office post, which criticized Google’s decision to introduce device fingerprinting for advertising purposes from February 2025. According to ICO, this change risks undermining user control and transparency in how personal data is collected and used.
Yet another corporate self-serving move that should highlight the need for de-googling, but with a monopolist controlling information flow how many will notice, and if they do, how many will recognize there are counter options, even if made difficult by the dominant web player…I would like to say it is blatantly time to break up big tech, but realistically I can’t see that happening, given regulatory capture of US politics, on both sides, as an outside observer.