Chrome exempts Google sites from user site data settings

Re:Chrome exempts Google sites from user site data settings by tupputuppu on Sunday October 18, 2020 @09:27AM (#24817736)

This isn't the highly visible anticompetitive behavior which might cause a backlash. Regular people, or even journalists or judges won't even understand what cookie clearing on exit means.

If there's antitrust sentiments towards Google, it needs to come from some where else.

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Re:Chrome exempts Google sites from user site data settings by feanaro on Sunday October 18, 2020 @09:35AM (#24817774)

On the other hand, a corporation cannot be allowed to continue its anti-competitive practice just because the subject is too complex for an average person to comprehend.

Techology isn't going away and is becoming ever more important. It seems obvious to me that we will need cross-domain specialists to handle cases such as this in the future -- someone with both a legal and computer science background.

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Re:Chrome exempts Google sites from user site data settings by walterbell on Sunday October 18, 2020 @05:52PM (#24821412)

From https://scienceandsociety.duke.edu/learn/ma/ & https://scienceandsociety.duke.edu/learn/ma/jdma-program/

> Many of the most important challenges confronting the legal profession lie at the intersection of science, technology, law, and policy. Emerging science and technologies, such as AI, big data, social media, genomics, and neuroscience, demand an interdisciplinary approach and visionary leadership. Students in the JD/MA in Bioethics and Science Policy program spend their three years at Duke focusing on these intersectional problems and preparing themselves for a seat at the table in these discussions for decades to come and earn an additional degree while doing so.

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Re:Chrome exempts Google sites from user site data settings by bofenbref on Monday October 19, 2020 @10:00AM (#24826410)

This is something I've often called a retreat into complexity. Classic example: food corpo gets flak for putting something nasty into their products. They then switch to using an alternative that's just as harmful, just with harder to spot effects.

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Re:Chrome exempts Google sites from user site data settings by feanaro on Tuesday October 20, 2020 @07:04PM (#24843196)

> This is something I've often called a retreat into complexity.

Thanks, I'm using this from now on.

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Re:Chrome exempts Google sites from user site data settings by fauigerzigerk on Sunday October 18, 2020 @10:05AM (#24817964)

I disagree. This sort of double standard is a very clear-cut and easy to understand case of abusing a dominant market position.

I wager that Google will be very quick to declare this a bug and fix it ASAP.

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Re:Chrome exempts Google sites from user site data settings by cpeterso on Sunday October 18, 2020 @09:27PM (#24822607)

Here's what Google said when this same "Clear all Cookies except Google Cookies" issue happened back in 2018:

https://www.blog.google/products/chrome/product-updates-base...

This 2018 CNET article has more details:

https://www.cnet.com/news/google-promises-chrome-changes-aft...

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Re:Chrome exempts Google sites from user site data settings by Retric on Sunday October 18, 2020 @06:47PM (#24821748)

Yep, though specifically because it’s harming Google’s competition rather than users.

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Re:Chrome exempts Google sites from user site data settings by Zak on Sunday October 18, 2020 @04:52PM (#24821048)

People understand perfectly well when you abstract it by one level: Google's web browser ignore's some of the user's privacy settings on sites Google owns.

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Re:Chrome exempts Google sites from user site data settings by walterbell on Sunday October 18, 2020 @05:44PM (#24821357)

> Regular people, or even journalists or judges won't even understand what cookie clearing on exit means.

It's been almost 30 years since the Cypherpunks. When billions of dollars or existential business threats are at stake, regular people are motivated to find a technically-knowledgeable peer for advice. There have now been several generations of financially successful tech entrepreneurs, some of whom move in non-tech circles.

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Re:Chrome exempts Google sites from user site data settings by nojito on Sunday October 18, 2020 @09:31AM (#24817754)

Chrome is one thing the DOJ is using to push its case against Google.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/10/feds-may-target-goo...

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Re:Chrome exempts Google sites from user site data settings by ezoe on Sunday October 18, 2020 @10:42AM (#24818182)

Although politicians and the court does not understand the cookie, That doesn't mean we won't have a backlash. It just doesn't guarantee the backlash is technologically sound. EU's cookie law, for example, is just stupid from the pure technical standpoint.

It's your computer that store a cookie to local storage. It's your computer that decide to send back previously stored cookie. And they're crying like they don't have a consent.

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Re:Chrome exempts Google sites from user site data settings by lima on Sunday October 18, 2020 @12:45PM (#24819127)

> It's your computer that store a cookie to local storage. It's your computer that decide to send back previously stored cookie. And they're crying like they don't have a consent.

Fortunately, EU regulators understand that non-technical users exist and need protection from abuse.

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Re:Chrome exempts Google sites from user site data settings by QasimK on Tuesday October 20, 2020 @09:47AM (#24837223)

Except your computer doesn’t know what the purpose of a cookie is, in order to decide what to do with any particular cookie.

Neither does the user, not by themselves anyway. Only the website knows really.

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Re:Chrome exempts Google sites from user site data settings by jacquesm on Sunday October 18, 2020 @10:58AM (#24818282)

Antitrust action against Google is much more likely to come from the EU than from the US.

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