This is a big thing.

I'd like to think this will be a force for good, but there may be other motives yet unclear.

Third party cookies? Is that a Chrome thing because I thought that proper browsers had always disallowed this.

Other technologies are emerging that do the same job as third party cookies, without so much of the "third party" aspect.

Bet your bottom dollar these folks will NOT let their cash cow be gored.

Mr Cynical asks "How will this be good for G?"

G has enough data to use non-cookie identification. Like OS/display/browser settings. No cookie, but might be close enough.

So their advertising will be more effective than the competition.

I am just curious when it was announced (and by whom) that when the internet came about you apparently agreed to give up all privacy. I am not talking about when you share something, but that companies can/would surreptitiously gather personal information. Was there a disclaimer I missed when I first connected to the internet? And do not fall back on the "the service is free so you should expect this..." excuse. As far as I know, we all pay to access the internet and as a renter, so to speak, we should have the right to full disclosure, and not some User Agreement that is 100 pages long in 6 pixel font.

When the internet (that corner infested with a couple generations of webs) came about it was for the open linking and sharing of documents between ivory towers, not at all for the public even less their commercial and social aspirations. All that has been bolted on ad hoc over time. Frankly I’m continually impressed the thing keeps working at all; both as a browser and as a server.

Otherwise, it is nice to see Google agree to join the consensus that was leaving without them (browsers, third party blockers, users).

Eventually. Obviously not a crash priority. Or else something else is hidden in the crumbs.the press may be making dire predictions but this day is years coming, I expect Google has not just been fiddling while the cookie crumbled.

Rest assured this is not a cave ... there is a path forward, and it will be one the bureaucrats have not recognized... yet. :)

Funny thing about words and contracts and laws ... if it is NOT written down somewhere "it" doesn't exist. Gone are the days when "intent" was sufficient to induce moral behavior. Ever wonder why the best "laws" are the ones with the fewest words? :)

Hello-

In all events, it's been some years, that it's known that cookies will disappear. The (first) ePrivacy Directive in EU, was already a sign. Also, it's known that, progressively privacy protection regulations will spread world wide. Google, and other Internet giants are not silly. So, it's been years they are brainstorming about it, and alternative. And you can be sure that, when Chrome announces it will phase out cookies, it means that this is because Google is ready to operate alternatives.

That being said, Chrome already has a "private" mode, (like the other browsers), where cookies are deleted when you close the browser. However, if you keep your browser opened for the whole day or more (I know some are doing it), this is tracking you.

And you can be sure that, when Chrome announces it will phase out cookies, it means that this is because Google is ready to operate alternatives.

Yes. Google may seem to be taking the lead on this, but Google is positioning itself to best protect its advertising interests. And in turn that protects us publishers.

Protects or ensures future profits? :)

If they are making the change they have mostly solved their issues with "tracking" and are moving on.

Hello-

When I look at all the stuff that Google is storing in the browser's "local storage", I am sure that they know how to (ab)use this mechanism, and collect data, even if the local storage itself is not transmitted out of the client device.

Another way to play with the EU bureaucrats. It's been years that EU is working on cookie laws, and the refine of the e-privacy directive is supposed to address this in a "better way". By the time this directive get released (already 2 years late), there will be no cookies anymore. Then it will take 5 or 6 years to the EU to produce another directive about the "replacement" of cookie tracking, and so on.

This reminds me of those court rulings which forbid Microsoft to embed IE in Windows 95... MS didn't mind because the ruling applied exclusively to Windows 95, and MS already had Window 98, 2000 and so on :)