Would Google's move benefit consumers? So far, the company has released scant details publicly, making any analysis purely speculative, said Stanford University professor Jonathan Mayer, who studies online advertising and privacy, and who until recently was working on the W3C's DNT standard. But one question Google will no doubt face is this: "From the consumer privacy perspective, how is AdID an improvement?" said Mayer via email. "Consumers can -- and increasingly will -- see Safari and Firefox defaults outright block third-party cookies." Accordingly, might Google's AdID push actually drive privacy-conscious consumers to adopt other browsers?
Furthermore, how exactly does AdID differ from DNT, which advertisers -- including trade groups to which Google belongs -- have actively resisted? "Google still doesn't support Do Not Track, despite participating in an industry announcement a year and a half ago," said Meyer. "Instead of starting from scratch, why doesn't Google support the consumer control technology that's already in every major Web browser? Twitter and Pinterest already do, in fact."
We also can expect Google's claims of anonymity for consumers via AdID to face strong scrutiny, especially given the vast quantities of data the company already can and does collect from people's searches and YouTube viewing habits, as well as through its Admob mobile advertising and DoubleClick online advertising divisions.
"Google needs to demonstrate this isn't merely a PR ploy designed to give increasingly privacy concerned users reassurance that they have nothing to fear," said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), via email. "The reality is Google is addicted to gathering our data -- that's the source of its revenues. The AdID will likely help them expand their surveillance of online users, especially as it focuses on monetizing our mobile phone and location activities."
Also expect any formal AdID proposals from Google to have to pass muster with the Federal Trade Commission. That's thanks to Google's 2011 privacy settlement with the agency, stemming from privacy violations associated with the 2010 launch of the now-defunct Buzz social network, which lead to the search giant agreeing to submit to regular reviews of its privacy policies. "The FTC will need to review AdID to determine whether it triggers a violation of Google's 20-year privacy consent decree," Chester said.
Interestingly, Google already has violated that settlement once, and triggered a record-setting $22.5 million FTC fine, after Stanford's Mayer discovered that the company was bypassing Safari privacy settings and placing tracking cookies directly on the computers of Safari users.
