Google Wants To Replace Cookies with AdID

(Victoria WoollastonIs @ mailonline) Google about to kill off the cookie? Web giant rumoured to working on a new way to make it easier for customers to control how they are tracked online (by everyone but them!)

Google believed to be working on an advertising system called AdID
It could be an alternative to cookies currently used by advertisers
Cookies are used to monitor what people like and what sites they visit
This makes it easier to only show relevant, personalized adverts

Google is believed to be working on a new, anonymous way for advertisers to track what people like based on what sites they visit.

The anonymous identifier for advertising, being referred to as AdID, would be an alternative to third-party cookies currently used by advertisers to serve relevant, personalised adverts.

Reports in USA Today also state that Google's new system could make it simpler for customers to monitor how they are tracked.

Google accounts for around a third of worldwide online ad revenue and is rumoured to be looking into new methods of working with advertisers according to someone 'familiar with the plans.'

Under the plans, when a person visits a site, an anonymous AdID would be sent to advertisers and advertising networks that have signed up to the system

These advertisers would have to adhere to a set of basic guidelines about what they can and can't track, and how they can and can't use the information they are sent.

This could potentially make the process easier for consumers to understand and make sure there isn't any confusion about their anonymity.

At the moment, first-party cookies that are used to identify basic details about a person are put on the site by the site's owner.

Third-party cookies are added to sites by advertisers and can track what products they like based on what they click on.

As they move around websites, these cookies can create a profile of interests and make sure the adverts shown are relevant to that individual. This can be disabled through a browser.

he AdID system would still track people for the same reasons and ultimate outcomes, but would simplify the process and could create an industry standard that all advertisers who want to use Google would adhere to.

This could prevent rogue third-party cookies being added to sites, as an example, or different advertisers each taking and using different data in different ways.

Only advertisers who stick to the guidelines would be given the IDs and if they break the terms and conditions, they would lose access to them.

USA Today continued that the AdID could be automatically reset by the browser each year.

Users may also be able to create 'secondary AdID' for when they want to keep their browsing history private.

It is also thought that the system will be opt-in, similar to the current way cookies are handled, and people can disable the tracking at any time.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau, which represents the industry, told USA Today that it 'at least wants some type of tracking technology available for advertisers, whether third-party cookies or something else'.