Google’s New Fingerprinting Policy Sparks Privacy Backlash as Ads Become Harder to Avoid

• Google has permitted advertisers to track users using the “fingerprinting” data collection method.
• Fingerprinting collects several small pieces of information about users’ hardware and software, making it harder for users to opt-out.
• In 2019, Google publicly stated that the fingerprinting data collection method was unfair to users.

Privacy campaigners have slammed Google’s new online user data collection rules after the U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) called the move “irresponsible.”

The new permissions, known as “fingerprinting,” mark a U-turn for Google after the tech giant previously criticized the technique as “wrong.”

Google’s New Data Tracking

Launched on Sunday, Feb. 17, the tech giant now allows online advertisers to collect numerous small pieces of information about users’ hardware and software.

Fingerprinting creates a unique “digital ID” for a user’s device while tracking data such as IP addresses, browser versions, operating systems, screen resolutions, installed fonts, and even subtle behavioral data like mouse movements.

Unlike cookies, which are stored locally and can be deleted or managed by users, a device fingerprint is generated dynamically from signals that are much harder to clear or block.

This makes it an identifier that can easily recognize users across different websites and sessions.

Google said in a blog post that advertisers were finding it difficult to deliver targeted ads because people now browse the internet using a range of devices, such as game consoles and smart TVs.

“Privacy-enhancing technologies offer new ways for our partners to succeed on emerging platforms… without compromising user privacy,” a Google spokesperson said.

Google’s U-turn

Google’s controversial policy change marks a dramatic U-turn for the tech giant.

In 2019, Google publicly stated that fingerprinting was unfair to users as it prevents users from easily controlling or opting out of data collection.

“Unlike cookies, users cannot clear their fingerprint, and therefore cannot control how their information is collected,” Google previously wrote.

Google added, “We think this subverts user choice and is wrong.”

Privacy Campaigners Push Back

Google’s new data collection rules have faced fierce criticism from privacy campaigners and rivals.

Will Richmond-Coggan, a specialist in technology and privacy law at  law firm Freeths, told CCN that Google embracing techniques like fingerprinting will inevitably send a signal for others to emulate it.

“While the promised benefit of this change is to improve the relevance of advertising that is delivered to individuals, many find it disconcerting, if not distressing,” Coggan said.

“It is to be hoped that the government will take note of this development and look to update this sorely neglected aspect of the legislation, as part of the Data Use and Access Bill currently making its way through Parliament,” he added.

Speaking to the BBC, Martin Thomson, an engineer at Mozilla (a Google rival), said that allowing fingerprinting gave the advertising industry “permission to use a form of tracking that people can’t do much to stop.”

In December 2024, the ICO slammed Google as “irresponsible,” noting that the tech giant once spoke out against the technique.

“Our response is clear: businesses do not have free rein to use fingerprinting as they please,” said Stephen Almond, ICO’s executive director of regulatory risk, in a blog post .“Like all advertising technology, it must be lawfully and transparently deployed – and if it is not, the ICO will act,” he added.

Lena Cohen, staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told the BBC the move highlighted the “ongoing prioritization of profits over privacy.”

“The same tracking techniques that Google claims are essential for online advertising also expose individuals’ sensitive information to data brokers, surveillance companies, and law enforcement,” she said.