A new extension for Google Chrome will now highlight the types of user data used to inform personalized advertising efforts. The Ads Transparency Spotlight extension is designed to shed light on the mechanisms behind personalized ad campaigns that target the wants and needs of a specific user, based on a variety of data collected about that individual. The new Chrome extension reveals the number of ads found on a given web page, the companies involved in serving those ads, and the precise types of data used to determine which ads are served (for example, age, gender, duration ). 'location, interests, etc.). The Ads Transparency Spotlight extension is available in alpha through the Chrome Web Store.
Google Chrome extension
The new Google Chrome extension gets its data from the Ad Disclosure Scheme API, which gives advertisers a way to provide information about how their ad campaigns are performing. Because not all advertisers use the API, the utility of the Ads Transparency Spotlight extension is limited at this time. However, Google hopes that the scheme will be adopted by other companies operating in the advertising industry in the near future. "At the time of this alpha release (July 2020), the extension only displays information about ads purchased through Google Ads that have implemented the Ads Transparency Spotlight (Alpha) data disclosure scheme," the GitHub listing reads. . "As other ad technology providers implement this scheme, information about these ads will also appear in the extension. Over time, we expect the industry to incorporate the data disclosure scheme Advertising Transparency Spotlight (Alpha) into their ads." . Building on its efforts to improve user privacy and the broader advertising ecosystem, Google also announced a new API designed to address issues associated with removing support for third-party cookies. Although cookies are widely used by advertisers to track user web activity, they are also used to prevent fraudulent online transactions. The new Trusted Token API will address this issue, once third-party cookies have been removed, by generating a cryptographic token that websites can use to distinguish between a real transaction and a bot-generated transaction. The Trust Token API is still under development and a release date has not yet been announced.- Here is our list of the best VPN services available.