Vivaldi Technologies introduced a new version of its browser, Vivaldi 3.8 (for the desktop and Android), in which it blocked Google FLoC technology.
The main changes concern safety and usability. So, in the browser, in addition to blocking Google FLoC technology, was also implemented Cookie Crumbler, Vivaldi’s own development, which helps to avoid pesky warnings about cookies.Version 3.8 disables Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC), a technology created by Google to replace third-party cookies. FLoC analyzes the behavior of each user and assigns him to a specific “cohort”, a group, for example, when searching for drugs.
At the same time, information about the interests and behavior, the estimated age and character traits of the user becomes available to any site, and Google gets the opportunity to analyze in detail the data of all “cohorts”.
“Users often automatically accept cookies without realizing that they are giving permission to collect information about themselves. Some websites don’t work without cookies, which puts users in a stalemate. I believe that user data collection system should finally be abolished. No one has the right to collect information about you with yours and, moreover, without your permission”, — Jon von Techner, founder of Vivaldi Technologies, says.
As we wrote earlier, the FLoC technology itself and the idea of replacing it with third-party cookies did not find support in the industry. Google’s technology has been criticized and rejected by many big players, including EFF, Microsoft, Mozilla Firefox, Brave, WordPress, and DuckDuckGo:
- EFF experts immediately criticized the technology, calling it a “terrible idea“;
- the authors of Vivaldi and Brave announced that they are abandoning the use of FLoC in their browsers;
- DuckDuckGo blocks FLoC using the Privacy Essentials Chrome extension;
- WordPress is discussing automatic blocking of FLoC on sites managed by this CMS;
- Apple hasn’t made any official announcements about FLoC, but Safari developer John Wilander said that for now, the company intends to wait and see what happens next;
- Edge developers also took a wait and see attitude,
- GitHub banned FLoC for * .github.com and GitHub Pages sites (hosted on *.github.io).
In addition, in the updated version of Vivaldi, Cookie Crumbler has appeared, it is a function that allows user to configure the operation of the browser with cookies once, and fight annoying windows separately on each site. The fact is that according to the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), sites that use cookies must warn their users about this.
Initially, the regulation was created to protect the personal data of users, but this has led to the appearance of messages and pop-ups in which it is necessary to indicate what types of data can be collected. This significantly slows down the Internet and annoys users, the developers of Vivaldi say, so the ability to configure the browser so that it does it on its own is very useful.
Other changes in the new version affected the interface and work with bookmarks. Panels, located by default on the left side of the browser window, have learned how to change transparency. The image that appears from under the transparent panels is also selectable. At the same time, a blur effect, contrast adjustment and a few more features appeared in the theme settings.
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