In its latest blog post, the code hosting platform GitHub has announced that it is adding an HTTP header for github.com and github.io and added return “Permissions-Policy: interest-cohort=()” header, which is a move that would block Google’s FLoC.
FLoC will be blocked on any webpage or website hosted on these two domains. However, GitHub didn’t explain its reason behind opposing the change.
With this step, GitHub joins the list of companies that have opposed Google’s forthcoming changes. Google previously announced that it will stop tracking users via ads and will implement a brand-new system called Federated Learning of Cohorts or FLoC.
FLoC is currently in its testing phase. Google has blocked ad tracking on Chrome browser. FLoC, which is powered by machine learning, will anonymously study users’ browsing activities and arrange them in groups, called Cohorts. Advertising will be based on these cohorts instead of the individual user data.
Privacy advocates and tech firms have heavily criticized this move and plan to block FLoC on their websites. Privacy-oriented search engines DuckDuckGo, Vivaldi, and Brave, have already announced blocking FLoC, whereas WordPress has regarded FLoC as a security threat.
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