Technology
Google summarizes the more privacy compliant fix for Chrome's SameSite cookie
On Thursday, Google announced it would update its SameSite cookie from July 14 alongside the Chrome 84 launch. The upgrade is slowly being introduced in Chrome 80 and later.
If Chrome 80 released in February, Google began to upgrade its SameSite to change the way the browser manages cookies. In April, Google announced the availability of this upgrade to preserve crucial websites during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chrome has used to allow cookies by default but Chrome blocks cookies in the third-party sense if it has other labels by adding its SameSite labeling scheme. This is part of Chrome's privacy approach: it is meant to restrict the processing of data on pages through cookies and, in effect, restrict the data obtained by visitors on such websites.
Blocking cookies from third parties can lead to the breakdown of certain web sites, in particular during login, as cookies store login data across sites and visits. Several sites were adapted according to the SameSite policy prior to Google rolling back the update.
Google is gradually blocking cookies from third parties as Google is afraid that it will break some websites by blocking cookies. Unlike Safari and Firefox, which default block cookies from third parties, Chrome has planned to phase them out in a couple of years. Following this incremental plan, Google announced earlier this month that Chrome will block incognito third-party cookies. The Chrome team also works on a number of alternative technologies to preserve website sales and enable advertisers to target audiences — but without interrupting site logins or being too invasive for consumers.
