In the latest move to improve the privacy of the Chrome browser, Google is adding support for a new HTML tag that prevents user tracking by isolating embedded content from the page embedding it.
Currently, web browsers allow third-party iframes to communicate with their embedding page. This can be done using postMessage, attributes (e.g., size and name), and permissions.
With browser developers restricting third-party cookies to prevent user tracking, advertising companies have proposed different programming APIs that advertisers can use for interest-based advertising.
These new interest-based advertising technologies include Google’s FLoC, Microsoft’s PARAKEET, and Facebook’s Conversion Lift.
However, when third-party cookies have been removed, these technologies should not be possible to track users by the cross-joining of data between an iframe and its embedder.
To prevent this, Google is adding a new form of embedded iframe called a “fenced frame” to isolate the embedded content and not allow it to see the user data of the embedding page.
“This can be helpful in preventing user tracking or other privacy threats,” the company noted.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by TTE staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)