Informative
August 30, 2024
Recently, Google said it won’t phase out third-party cookies anymore – cookies will stay as advertisers and publishers depend on them – users, however, will now be introduced to a ‘new experience’ in Chrome where they can make (truly) informed decisions when browsing the web.
If you’ve been on LinkedIn recently, you know the debate is far from over. While some said cookies are harmless (how oblivious are you, Mr. Top Noise?), others reiterate how important it was to deprecate third-party cookies for ethical concerns. Some sit right in the middle. Maybe, just maybe, this is a good idea after all. Everyone wins.
Do they though?
In today’s blog, we consider the ethical concerns surrounding cookies and how impact-driven marketers (and brands) can ensure users convert even in a cookie-less world. The idea is to help change agents in our industry do better, and truly align their marketing practices with their values.
The year was 1994. A programmer at Netscape Communications was tasked with a simple problem: Keep track of items in a virtual shopping cart. How time flies. Thanks to Lou Montulli, we can now track a lot more than our binge buys after a ridiculously hard day. It’s only human.
Here’s what Montulli did. He came up with a small text file that could be stored on a user’s computer. Think of it as an automatic download. Annoying to users, but effective for advertisers.
Today, cookies are seen both as a way to enhance user experiences (they can remember your passwords, preferences, and the items in your cart) as well as a way to store data that reveals interests, habits, and even personal information you didn’t know you were sharing in the first place. Oh, how we love surveillance capitalism.
I didn’t get a Master’s degree in Media and put myself through those ethics lectures for nothing.
Surveillance capitalism refers to the widespread collection and commodification of personal data by corporations. By unilaterally claiming human experience as free raw material for translation into behavioral data, platforms trade in human futures.
These platforms need more and more data to predict human behaviors and sell ‘certainty’ to advertisers, which it does by gathering enough data so patterns emerge and then used to subtly influence behavior for better predictability. Hence, data collection doesn’t just grow in scale but also in scope (Kenny, 2019).
Moreover, surveillance capitalism incentivizes unethical data collection, obtained through undetectable algorithmic processes, many of which are taken without consent or by taking consent through terms and conditions that span hundreds of clauses and use complicated legal language.
TLDR? Basically, surveillance capitalism is a fancy term for saying that tech companies hold a huge monopoly over our experiences on the internet. They use it to make billions of dollars. And the black-box nature of it all means that we know virtually nothing about their data collection practices.
Cookies come in various flavors. There are session cookies (temporary cookies that memorize online activities), persistent cookies (that store preferences), and tracking cookies (these track your interests, location, age, and search trends). While session and persistent cookies serve functional purposes, tracking cookies are used for hyper-targeted advertising. Most of this process is invisible – operating in the black box of the web, out of the user’s sight.
This is the problem. This invisible tracking leads to the disclosure of your private information such as your age, where you live, what you do for work, who you’ll probably vote for, and what you’ve been thinking about lately. Of course, the list goes on.
Cookies are pervasive. It might not feel like a big deal, but in the cookie jar of ethical concerns - these little trackers accrue big consequences for privacy.
Here’s what Google’s latest statement looks like.
“Instead of deprecating third-party cookies, we would introduce a new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their web browsing, and they’d be able to adjust that choice at any time. We're discussing this new path with regulators, and will engage with the industry as we roll this out.”
Anthony Chavez, VP - Privacy Sandbox
Half-baked strategies will not survive the launch of the ‘new experience’ which in all likelihood will put the decision in the user’s hands. A 2018 study by Advance Metrics revealed a stark reality: Many users ignore or reject cookie banners. The days of uninvited access to user data are numbered.
But…this is where most marketers get it wrong: Ethical data collection is easier than you think.
What can you do as an ethical marketer or brand custodian? As advertisers, we are dependent on cookies. They’re reliable ways to find relevant users who will buy from us. But what’s that sale worth if the cost is their privacy? As regulations change, concerns evolve, and better ways emerge – we have the ethical obligation to follow through.
Here are a few actions we recommend:
Zero-party data is data that users voluntarily provide. Think dropping your email address for access to their newsletter, getting a promotion or discount, or entering details on a quiz to know which products work best for you.
Lots of brands use such quizzes, newsletters, and other types of ‘lead magnets’ to acquire customer data with their consent.
First-party data is collected from the website a user is visiting. Data collected here could be the pages you visit, the amount of time you spend on a particular page, or the actions you take on the website. This data is ‘functional’ data and poses less ethical consequences because it isn’t shared with third-party websites.
Ensuring your consent mechanism complies with Consent Mode v2 (if applicable) means offering clear, granular options for users to choose what data they share and for what purposes.
Why not only collect the data you absolutely need for marketing purposes? Respecting user privacy can get you extra cookie points (sorry, brownie) for transparency and brand trust. As regulations and technologies evolve, avoiding unnecessary data collection practices will become necessary. They might also be why a customer leaves you for a homogenous product.
Use tools such as Blacklight to constantly monitor trackers on your website.
Blacklight is a free web inspection tool created by The MarkUp, a tech-for-good publication. You can use it to learn more about trackers on your own website or on a website you want to inspect.
Today, the cookie remains a cornerstone of the digital world, but its role is constantly evolving. With technologies like web beacons and fingerprinting emerging, the future of data tracking is uncertain. One thing is clear: the cookie's legacy is complex and far-reaching.
