Tag Archives: Chrome

Take a step-by-step tour of your Chrome privacy settings

Your browser plays a big role in your online experience — including protecting your privacy. And in Chrome, we don’t take this responsibility for granted. That’s why we’ve made your privacy and security controls easier to understand and launched features over the years to help you browse more privately.

Today, we’re introducing our latest tool to help you continue to protect your privacy while you browse. Developed at the Google Safety Engineering Center (GSEC), Privacy Guide is a step-by-step guided tour of some existing privacy and security controls in Chrome — so you can make and manage the right selections for you in one spot.

When you navigate through Privacy Guide, you’ll learn about the benefits, trade-offs and privacy implications of each setting so you can easily understand what happens when a particular one is on or off. To start, Privacy Guide will include controls for cookies, history sync, Safe Browsing, and Make Searches and Browsing Better. As we receive feedback from the community, we may add more settings to the guide over time.

An animation swiping through each step of Privacy Guide, including cookies, history sync, Safe Browsing, and Make Searches and Browsing Better.

Soon, you’ll see a new card for Privacy Guide in the “Privacy and security” tab in your Chrome settings, which you can find by clicking the three dots on the top-right corner of your browser. And don’t worry if you don’t have time to take the whole tour at once. Your changes are saved along the way, so you can pick it back up whenever works best for you.

Privacy Guide will start rolling out to all M100 Chrome desktop users in the coming weeks. We hope it helps you learn more about Chrome’s privacy settings and, most importantly, gives you the peace of mind to browse safely.

100 versions of Chrome later: What we learned along the way

When we introduced Google Chrome back in 2008, our goal was to build a browser that was fast, secure, and easy to use. For over a decade, we’ve worked with the larger ecosystem to drive innovation on the web forward and build a user and developer experience that helps people and developers get things done. We continue this work today.

It’s humbling to know that billions of people around the world turn to Chrome, and we’re constantly challenging ourselves to make it faster, safer, more helpful and more accessible for everyone. Personally, I've been inspired by how we've driven HTTPS adoption, made payments and password management better and helped developers create incredible Chrome extensions. In short, it's amazing to see the thousands of tiny updates from the team that come together to make Chrome better and better.

We recently rolled out the 100th major update for your Chrome browser — and to mark this milestone, I asked some members of the team to share a few of their favorite features and improvements.

Building the fastest browser

Max Christoff, Senior Engineering Director

There’s no such thing as a browser that’s too fast. Speed has shaped our work since Chrome’s launch in 2008. After more than a decade, we’ve continued to find new performance wins by obsessively sweating the engineering details. In the past year and a half alone, we’ve made Chrome an additional 43% faster. But having the fastest browser on the planet doesn’t help if your device runs out of battery or memory, so we’ll continue working to make Chrome more efficient — on all platforms, from low-end phones to high-performance workstations.

Prioritizing your privacy and security

Sabine Borsay and Patrick Nepper, Senior Product Managers, Chrome Trust & Safety

From the beginning, we designed Chrome with your safety and privacy in mind. Chrome comes with a powerful password manager to make signing in safe and seamless across your devices. It will also warn you if your passwords have been compromised and help you fix weak ones with a single tap. Along with providing strong default protections, we try to make privacy controls easy to find, understand and use. After a complete redesign of Chrome’s security and privacy settings two years ago, we have a new guided tour of key privacy controls, so you can make choices that work best for you.

Building a simple, safe and beautiful Chrome

Alex Ainslie, UX Director

Looking back on the past decade, I’m proud of the human-centered work the Chrome team has done to build a browser that’s powerfully simple — that’s shown in features like tab groups and password autofill. Along the way, we’ve published work on usable security, designed a tiny dino game and updated Chrome’s visual design. Chrome’s designers, researchers and writers focus on crafting a browser specifically for each device by taking into account operating system conventions, input methods and hardware capabilities. We want to get the #littlebigdetails right and welcome your bug reports and feedback about how we can make Chrome work better for you.

Designing a more inclusive experience

RK Popkin, Group Product Manager

Looking back, I’m proudest of the work we’ve done to bring the web to more people. Chrome is now the most popular browser for screenreader users, and we use the latest AI advancements to describe pictures across the web for blind and low vision users. We’ve added Live Captions to video/audio content for users who are Deaf or hard of hearing, and our DevTools accessibility tree helps others build better for people with disabilities. Chrome also uses neural machine translation to translate the web in 108 languages — this past month, we translated over 25 billion webpages! We’ve also collaborated with Black and Latino artists to bring their visions to Chrome’s new tab page, giving people a new way to make Chrome reflect themselves. We’re excited to release more collaborations in the future.

Supporting a free and open-source web browser project

Paul Kinlan, Senior Staff Developer Advocate & Lead of Chrome Developer Relations

As a web developer before joining Google, I was fascinated with Chrome because it was the first open source browser project (the project itself is called Chromium) and built on web standards, meaning anyone could contribute and improve it. Today, Chromium powers many of the most popular browsers, including Microsoft Edge and Amazon Silk, while also enabling the web to be built into Android apps, TVs and VR headsets. Thanks to our commitment to shorten the release cycle and ship a new version of Chrome more often, we’re now able to make improvements and fix issues quicker, and projects like Interop 2022 will help enable web developers to build experiences that work everywhere.

Deploying Chrome at work or school

Philippe Rivard, Senior Product Manager, Chrome browser enterprise

People everywhere transitioned to remote work and school during the pandemic, and many of them relied on Chrome to help. What people might not know about is the work that IT teams around the world did to make this seamless and secure, thanks to tools like Chrome Browser Cloud Management. This allowed IT teams to manage Chrome across operating systems, directly from the cloud. I'm proud of the work my team has done to help organizations of all sizes make the most of the web. Now, many organizations are moving to hybrid working models for the foreseeable future, and Chrome will continue to support IT teams as they handle this added complexity.

Helping you search and get things done online

Yana Yushkina, Product Manager, Search in Chrome

We’ve all left too many tabs open in fear of losing valuable info — that's why I’m most excited about Chrome Journeys. This helps you revisit time-intensive research by pulling your previously visited sites based on topic. Or to skip tabs altogether, Chrome Actions helps you jump right to opening a new Doc, translating a page or sharing a site.

Keeping up with content you care about

Janice Wong, Product Manager, Content Discovery

At its core the web is all about content — both the people consuming it, and people creating it. Last year, we made it easier for you to follow and get updates from your favorite web publishers right from Chrome. You can also discover content from new websites that’s relevant and interesting to you in Chrome on Android and iOS. I'm excited to help even more people keep up with their interests and discover new ones from the new tab page.

Thank you for trusting Chrome and for helping us continually improve it via your feedback — here’s to the next 100 milestones!

The path forward with the Privacy Sandbox

Google’s aim with the Privacy Sandbox is to improve web privacy for people around the world, while also giving publishers, creators and other developers the tools they need to build thriving businesses. This includes building new digital advertising tools, in collaboration with the wider industry, to replace third-party cookies with alternatives that better protect consumer privacy and preserve peoples’ access to free content online.

Since announcing the Privacy Sandbox we have been in open dialogue with the industry, consumer advocates and regulators to gather feedback on this initiative. Over the past year, we have also worked closely with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), including on a set of legally-binding commitments to address the CMA’s competition concerns over the Privacy Sandbox which will govern how we will design and implement this initiative. The aim, through this regulatory oversight and supervision, is to provide reassurance that the Privacy Sandbox will protect consumers and support a competitive ad-funded web, and not favor Google.

The commitments address these concerns through three main principles. First, the changes we will make in Chrome in the context of the Privacy Sandbox initiative will apply in the same way to Google’s advertising products as to products from other companies. Second, we will design, develop and implement Privacy Sandbox with regulatory oversight and input from the CMA and the ICO. And third, we will inform the CMA in advance of our intention to remove third-party cookies and agree to wait for their feedback on whether any competition law concerns remain.

Privacy by design and by default have been at the heart of the Privacy Sandbox from the outset, and we are also intent on ensuring that the new tools meet the requirements set out in the recent ICO’s Opinion on Data protection and privacy expectations for online advertising proposals. To that end, we are designing these new tools to avoid cross-site tracking, provide people with better transparency and control, and result in better outcomes for people and businesses on the web. We look forward to further engagement with data protection authorities as we continue to iterate and improve on the proposals.

We’re pleased that today the CMA has accepted these commitments, which now go into immediate effect. The development and implementation criteria that underpin these commitments are summarized below, and can be found in full on the CMA’s website. We will apply the commitments globally because we believe that they provide a roadmap for how to address both privacy and competition concerns in this evolving sector.

Respecting user privacy while maintaining a well functioning ad-funded web

Google’s objectives in developing the Privacy Sandbox proposals are to make the web more private and secure for people, while:

  1. Supporting the ability of publishers to generate revenue from advertising inventory and the ability of advertisers to secure value for money from advertising spend;
  2. Supporting a good user experience when navigating the web, including in relation to digital advertising;
  3. Providing users with substantial transparency and control in relation to their data as they browse the web; and
  4. Not distorting competition between Google’s own advertising products and services and those of other market participants.

We recognize that many publishers and advertisers rely on online advertising to fund their websites and reach new customers. So building tools which aim to improve people’s privacy, while continuing to support advertising, is key to keeping the web open and accessible to everyone and allowing businesses of all sizes to succeed.

Developing the Privacy Sandbox

To achieve the objectives above, Google is committing to designing, developing and implementing the Privacy Sandbox proposals taking into account specific criteria agreed with the CMA:

  1. The impact on privacy outcomes and compliance with privacy laws;
  2. The impact on competition in digital advertising between Google and other market participants, and, in particular, the risk of distortion to competition;
  3. The impact on publishers (including their ability to generate revenue from ad inventory) and advertisers;
  4. The impact on user experience (e.g. relevance of advertising and transparency over the use of personal data); and
  5. The technical feasibility, complexity and cost involved for Google.

Building on many months of open consultation by Google — and the CMA — with the wider industry, Google will be consulting with the CMA and ICO on a regular basis in relation to the design, development and implementation of the Privacy Sandbox (including testing and public announcements). Google will also increase its engagement with industry stakeholders (including publishers, advertisers and ad tech providers) by providing a systematic feedback process to take on board reasonable views and suggestions. This continues our previous engagement with web community members, who are encouraged to participate in the development and testing of the proposed new technologies through public discussion forums like the W3C, developer channels such as GitHub, industry groups and origin trials. We will also establish a dedicated microsite, available from privacysandbox.com, explaining these channels in more detail and offering a new feedback form to submit suggested use cases and API feature requests, by the end of February 2022.

Ensuring compliance

Google will work with the CMA to resolve concerns without delay and consult and update the CMA and the ICO on an ongoing basis. Google has also committed to appoint an independent Monitoring Trustee who will have the access and technical expertise needed to ensure compliance, having consulted with the CMA. The Monitoring Trustee will work directly with the CMA, and will be central in ensuring compliance with the data and non-discrimination commitments offered by Google.

We believe that these commitments will ensure that competition continues to thrive while providing flexibility in designing the Privacy Sandbox APIs in a way that will improve peoples’ privacy online. Helping businesses adapt to a privacy-safe web, through invention and collaboration, can help provide the foundation for long-term economic sustainability and growth.

This process requires close engagement with competition and privacy regulators and new ways of working together. We hope these commitments can contribute to that new framework.

Finding answers gets better with Chrome

Every month, we look to add more features to Chrome to help you find information and get things done while navigating the web, whether you're on your laptop or phone. Here’s what’s new:

Jump back into your Journeys and find what's next

Our days are constantly filled with interruptions. You might be researching across multiple pages for hikes for the weekend or information about vaccines, then quickly need to switch over to a last-minute work call, only to forget where you originally left off. Now with Journeys, rolling out in the latest version of Chrome for desktop, you can revisit past explorations grouped by topic.

When you type a related word into your search bar and click on “Resume your research” or visit the Chrome History Journeys page, you see a list of relevant sites you visited and can quickly pick up where you left off, whether it was earlier today or weeks ago. Journeys will even take into account how much you’ve interacted with a site to put the most relevant information front and center, while also bringing you helpful suggestions on related searches you may want to try next.

Importantly, you’re always in control of your data. You can delete individual items or entire clusters of activity — or turn off Journeys completely. As always, you’ll be able to clear your browsing history right from Chrome settings. Finally, Journeys currently only groups history on your device — nothing is saved to your Google account. And based on user feedback and interest, we’ll explore adding the ability to access Journeys in Chrome across multiple devices (just like bookmarks or passwords). Journeys is rolling out to Chrome desktop on any OS in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese and Turkish.

Screenshot of the Journeys in Chrome browser history. The user can see a cluster of recent searches they did related to a trip to Yosemite or finding information on their new Nest Audio devices.

The Journeys feature of Chrome groups together your search history based on topic or intent

Take action directly from your address bar

Rolling out now, we’re releasing more Chrome Actions to help you get more things done quickly from the Chrome address bar. We first released Chrome Actions a couple years ago, with Actions like Clear browsing data. You can save time with an Action by typing its title. The Chrome address bar also predicts when you could benefit from a Chrome Action based on the words that have been typed. Some of our favorite new Actions are:

  • “Manage settings”
  • “Customize Chrome”
  • “View your Chrome history”
  • “Manage accessibility settings”
  • “Share this tab”
  • “Play Chrome Dino game”

Soon, look out for more Chrome Actions coming to more languages and to mobile.

Chrome-ify your Android home screen

With the new Chrome widgets for Android, you can quickly start a text search, voice search, Lens search or open an Incognito tab right from your homescreen. There’s even a shortcut to play the Chrome dino game – even if you’re online. Or, if you really love the dino game, there’s a widget dedicated just to our prehistoric friend. Rolling out now, to get the Chrome widget for Android, long press the Chrome icon then select “widgets.”

Screenshot of an Android homepage with a Chrome dino widget and two sizes of Chrome shortcuts widgets, which include a Search box and buttons for voice search, incognito, Lens and the dino game

Add new Chrome widgets to your Android homescreen

We have so many more tools and features that we think you’ll love in 2022. If you do have any suggestions on things you want to see, send us a tweet @googlechrome.

Get to know the new Topics API for Privacy Sandbox

We started the Privacy Sandbox initiative to improve web privacy for users, while also giving publishers, creators and other developers the tools they need to build thriving businesses, ensuring a safe and healthy web for all. We also know that advertising is critical for many businesses, and is a key way to support access to free content online.

Today, we’re announcing Topics, a new Privacy Sandbox proposal for interest-based advertising. Topics was informed by our learning and widespread community feedback from our earlier FLoC trials, and replaces our FLoC proposal.

With Topics, your browser determines a handful of topics, like “Fitness” or “Travel & Transportation,” that represent your top interests for that week based on your browsing history. Topics are kept for only three weeks and old topics are deleted. Topics are selected entirely on your device without involving any external servers, including Google servers. When you visit a participating site, Topics picks just three topics, one topic from each of the past three weeks, to share with the site and its advertising partners. Topics enables browsers to give you meaningful transparency and control over this data, and in Chrome, we’re building user controls that let you see the topics, remove any you don’t like or disable the feature completely.

Short animation that describes how Topics works
10:25

More importantly, topics are thoughtfully curated to exclude sensitive categories, such as gender or race. Because Topics is powered by the browser, it provides you with a more recognizable way to see and control how your data is shared, compared to tracking mechanisms like third-party cookies. And, by providing websites with your topics of interest, online businesses have an option that doesn’t involve covert tracking techniques, like browser fingerprinting, in order to continue serving relevant ads.

Example illustrations of what users can see about 3rd party cookies on the left vs Topics on the right. In Chrome, we’re building user controls that lets you see the topics, remove any you don’t like or disable the feature completely.

Example illustrations of what you can see about 3rd party cookies (left) vs Topics (right). In Chrome, we plan to make Topics easier to recognize and manage for users.

To learn more about the details of the Topics proposal, including other design features that preserve privacy, see an overview on privacysandbox.com or read the full technical explainer. Soon, we will launch a developer trial of Topics in Chrome that includes user controls, and enables website developers and the ads industry to try it out. The final design of the user controls and the other various technical aspects of how Topics works will be decided based on your feedback and what we learn in the trial.

This is a busy time for the Privacy Sandbox. We recently worked with the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to offer revised commitments to ensure our proposals are developed in a way that works for the entire ecosystem, and later this week, we'll be sharing more details about the FLEDGE and measurement technical proposals with developers. The Privacy Sandbox is one of the most ambitious, important efforts we’ve ever undertaken, and we’re profoundly grateful for the engagement, feedback and partnership from everyone who’s participated.

5 tips to finish your holiday shopping with Chrome

We’re coming down to the wire with holiday shopping, and many of us are frantically searching online for last-minute stocking stuffers. Luckily, a few new features are coming to Chrome that will make these final rounds of shopping easier — helping you keep track of what you want to buy and finally hit "order."

Here are five ways to use Chrome for a stress-free shopping experience.

1. Keep track of price drops: Are you waiting for a good deal on that pair of headphones, but don’t have time to constantly refresh the page? A new mobile feature, available this week on Chrome for Android in the U.S., will show an item’s updated price right in your open tabs grid so you can easily see if and when the price has dropped. This same feature will launch on iOS in the coming weeks.

Screenshot showing a grid of four tabs in Chrome. Two tabs are product pages and show a price drop on top of the tab preview, highlighted in green.

2. Search with a snapshot from the address bar: If something catches your eye while you’re out window shopping, you can now search your surroundings with Google Lens in Chrome for Android. From the address bar, tap the Lens icon and start searching with your camera.

Coming soon, you’ll also be able to use Lens while you’re browsing in Chrome on your desktop. If you come across a product in an image and want to find out what it is, just right-click and select the “Search images with Google Lens” option.

3. Rediscover what’s in your shopping cart: You know you have items in your shopping cart, but you can't remember where exactly. No need to search all over again. Starting with Chrome on Windows and Mac in the U.S., you can now open up a new tab and scroll to the “Your carts” card to quickly see any site where you’ve added items to a shopping cart. Some retailers, like Zazzle, iHerb, Electronic Express and Homesquare, might even offer a discount when you come back to check out.

4. Get passwords off your plate: Don’t worry about setting up and remembering your account details for your favorite shopping sites. Chrome can help create unique, secure passwords and save your login details for future visits.

5. Simplify the checkout process: By saving your address and payment information with Autofill, Chrome can automatically fill out your billing and shipping details. And when you enter info into a new form, Chrome will ask if you’d like to save it.

Our favorite Chrome extensions of 2021

All year, developers from around the world build Chrome extensions that make browsing easier, more productive and more personalized — whether you’re on the web to work, learn, play or all of the above. Today, we’re sharing our favorite extensions of the year that help people continue to virtually stay connected, get things done and have some fun along the way. Let’s take a closer look at them.

Communicate and collaborate

Whether you’re working from the office, your couch or a bit of both, extensions can help keep you connected with your teammates. Loom makes it easier to capture and share videos with others, while Mote allows you to give quick feedback through voice commenting and transcripts. Wordtune also helps you clearly communicate by rephrasing sentences and catching typos in emails and documents.

Three icons for Loom, Mote and Wordtune side by side. The leftmost icon has a blue, square background with a white starburst in the center, and underneath it’s labeled “Loom.” The middle icon has a purple, circular background with a cursive “M” in the center and underneath it’s labeled “Mote.” The rightmost icon has a dark purple, circular background with a cursive “W” and underneath it’s labeled "Wordtune.”

Stay productive

Other extensions offer new ways to stay focused and efficient. Forest gamifies productivity through virtual tree planting and rewards, and Dark Reader protects your eyes (and sleep schedule) during long workdays. Tab Manager Plus also saves you from drowning in a sea of never-ending tabs, and Nimbus Screenshot & Screen Video Recorder makes it easier to quickly screenshot and record content to share across platforms.

Four icons for Forest, Dark Reader, Tab Manager Plus and Nimbus Screenshot & Screen Video Recorder side by side. The leftmost icon has a green background with a soil and leaf in the foreground, and underneath it’s labeled “Forest.” The icon to its right has a transparent background with a dark head with glowing glasses in the foreground, and underneath it’s labeled “Dark Reader.” The icon to its right has a transparent background with three browser windows overlapping, colored yellow, green and orange, and underneath it’s labeled “Tab Manager Plus.” The rightmost icon has a transparent background with a dashed square blue outline, a blue “N” in the center and a blue plus sign in the bottom right corner. Underneath, it’s labeled “Nimbus Screenshot & Screen Video Recorder.”

Learn virtually

With education happening online more than ever before, students and teachers need helpful virtual classroom tools. Kami creates an interactive online learning space for students and teachers, and InsertLearning helps you easily take notes and integrates with Google Classroom. Meanwhile, Toucan makes learning a new language fun and immersive, and Rememberry organizes vocabulary words into flashcard decks for quick studying throughout the day.

Four icons for Kami, InsertLearning, Toucan and Rememberry side by side. The leftmost icon has a circular blue background with a white bold ‘K’ centered, and underneath it’s labeled “Kami.” The icon to its right has a dark purple, square background with a bold “IL” in the center and underneath it’s labeled “InsertLearning.” The icon to its right has a green background with a Toucan bird in the foreground, and underneath it’s labeled “Toucan.” The rightmost icon has a transparent background with a human head silhouette facing left and a circle with an arrow on one end pointing counterclockwise overlayed. Underneath, it’s labeled “Rememberry.”

Make (and save) some change

To give your browsing experience a personal twist, Stylus helps you build and install custom themes and skins for your favorite sites. And Rakuten puts cash back in your pocket by automatically finding coupons and deals across the web — particularly helpful during one of the busiest years for online shopping.

Two icons for Stylus and Rakuten side by side. The left icon has a dark blue, square background with a light blue outline and a light blue “S” in the center, and underneath it’s labeled “Stylus.” The right icon has a transparent background with a purple "R" in the center and underlined, and underneath it’s labeled “Rakuten.”

To install and learn more about these extensions, visit our Chrome Web Store Favorites of 2021 collection. And if you’re a developer looking for tips to design a high-quality Chrome extension, check out our best practices.

An update on our Privacy Sandbox commitments

For further background on this topic, please see our blog from June.

Since we announced our Privacy Sandbox commitments earlier this year, we have continued to work with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to address feedback that was raised as part of its public consultation process. We have also continued to update and seek feedback from the market and the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) on our proposals.

We are determined to ensure that the Privacy Sandbox is developed in a way that works for the entire ecosystem and, as part of this process, we have now offered revised commitments, which can be found in full on the CMA’s website.

These revisions underline our commitment to ensuring that the changes we make in Chrome will apply in the same way to Google’s ad tech products as to any third party, and that the Privacy Sandbox APIs will be designed, developed and implemented with regulatory oversight and input from the CMA and the ICO. We also support the objectives set out yesterday in the ICO’s Opinion on Data protection and privacy expectations for online advertising proposals, including the importance of supporting and developing privacy-safe advertising tools that protect people’s privacy and prevent covert tracking.

The revised commitments incorporate a number of changes including:

  1. Monitoring and reporting. We have offered to appoint an independent Monitoring Trustee who will have the access and technical expertise needed to ensure compliance.
  2. Testing and consultation. We have offered the CMA more extensive testing commitments, along with a more transparent process to take market feedback on the Privacy Sandbox proposals.
  3. Further clarity on our use of data. We are underscoring our commitment not to use Google first-party personal data to track users for targeting and measurement of ads shown on non-Google websites. Our commitments would also restrict the use of Chrome browsing history and Analytics data to do this on Google or non-Google websites.

If the CMA accepts these commitments, we will apply them globally.

We continue to appreciate the thoughtful approach and engagement from the CMA and ICO as we develop our Privacy Sandbox proposals. We welcome, and will carefully consider, any comments that people provide during the consultation process.

An update on our Privacy Sandbox commitments

For further background on this topic, please see our blog from June.

Since we announced our Privacy Sandbox commitments earlier this year, we have continued to work with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to address feedback that was raised as part of its public consultation process. We have also continued to update and seek feedback from the market and the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) on our proposals.

We are determined to ensure that the Privacy Sandbox is developed in a way that works for the entire ecosystem and, as part of this process, we have now offered revised commitments, which can be found in full on the CMA’s website.

These revisions underline our commitment to ensuring that the changes we make in Chrome will apply in the same way to Google’s ad tech products as to any third party, and that the Privacy Sandbox APIs will be designed, developed and implemented with regulatory oversight and input from the CMA and the ICO. We also support the objectives set out yesterday in the ICO’s Opinion on Data protection and privacy expectations for online advertising proposals, including the importance of supporting and developing privacy-safe advertising tools that protect people’s privacy and prevent covert tracking.

The revised commitments incorporate a number of changes including:

  1. Monitoring and reporting. We have offered to appoint an independent Monitoring Trustee who will have the access and technical expertise needed to ensure compliance.
  2. Testing and consultation. We have offered the CMA more extensive testing commitments, along with a more transparent process to take market feedback on the Privacy Sandbox proposals.
  3. Further clarity on our use of data. We are underscoring our commitment not to use Google first-party personal data to track users for targeting and measurement of ads shown on non-Google websites. Our commitments would also restrict the use of Chrome browsing history and Analytics data to do this on Google or non-Google websites.

If the CMA accepts these commitments, we will apply them globally.

We continue to appreciate the thoughtful approach and engagement from the CMA and ICO as we develop our Privacy Sandbox proposals. We welcome, and will carefully consider, any comments that people provide during the consultation process.

Read Article

Our commitments for the Privacy Sandbox

Google proposes a set of commitments for Privacy Sandbox to the U.K.’s competition regulator

Read Article

Making sign-in safer and more convenient

For most of us, passwords are the first line of defense for our digital lives. However, managing a set of strong passwords isn’t always convenient, which leads many people to look for  shortcuts (i.e. dog’s name + birthday) or to neglect password best practices altogether, which opens them up to online risks. At Google, we protect our users with products that are secure by default – it’s how we keep more people safe online than anyone else in the world. 


As we celebrate Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we’d like to share all the ways we are making your sign-in safer: 


Making password sign-in seamless and safe


Everyday, Google checks the security of 1 billion passwords to protect your accounts from being hacked. Google’s Password Manager, built directly into Chrome, Android and the Google App, uses the latest security technology to keep your passwords safe across all the sites and apps you use. It makes it easier to create and use strong and unique passwords on all your devices, without the need to remember or repeat each one.

 

On iOS you can select Chrome to autofill saved passwords in other apps, too. That means your sign-in experience goes from remembering and typing in a password on each individual site to literally one tap.  And soon, you will be able to take advantage of Chrome’s strong password generation feature for any iOS app, similar to how Autofill with Google works on Android today.  


We're also rolling out a feature in the Google app that allows you to access all of the passwords you've saved in Google Password Manager right from the Google app menu. These enhancements are designed to make your password experience easier and safer—not just on Google, but across the web.


Getting people enrolled in 2SV  


In addition to passwords, we know that having a second form of authentication dramatically decreases an attacker’s chance of gaining access to an account. For years, Google has been at the forefront of innovation in two-step verification (2SV), one of the most reliable ways to prevent unauthorized access to accounts and networks. 2SV is strongest when it combines both "something you know" (like a password) and "something you have" (like your phone or a security key).


2SV has been core to Google’s own security practices and today we make it seamless for our users with a Google prompt, which requires a simple tap on your mobile device to prove it’s really you trying to sign in. And because we know the best way to keep our users safe is to turn on our security protections by default, we have started to automatically configure our users’ accounts into a more secure state. By the end of 2021, we plan to  auto-enroll an additional 150 million Google users in 2SV and require  2 million YouTube creators to turn it on.

We also recognize that today’s 2SV options aren’t suitable for everyone, so we are working on technologies that provide a convenient, secure authentication experience and reduce the reliance on passwords in the long-term. Right now we are auto-enrolling Google accounts that have the proper backup mechanisms in place to make a seamless transition to 2SV. To make sure your account has the right settings in place, take our quick Security Checkup. 


Building security keys into devices 


As part of our security work, we led the invention of security keys — another form of authentication that requires you to tap your key during suspicious sign-in attempts. We know security keys provide the highest degree of sign-in security possible, that’s why we've partnered with organizations to provide free security keys to over 10,000 high risk users this year. 


To make security keys more accessible, we built the capability right into Android phones and our Google Smart Lock app on Apple devices. Today, over two billion devices around the world automatically support the strongest, most convenient 2SV technology available. 


Additional sign-in enhancements 


We recently launched One Tap and a new family of Identity APIs called Google Identity Services, which uses secure tokens, rather than passwords, to sign users into partner websites and apps, like Reddit and Pinterest. With the new Google Identity Services, we've combined Google's advanced security with easy sign in to deliver a convenient experience that also keeps users safe. These new services represent the future of authentication and protect against vulnerabilities like click-jacking, pixel tracking, and other web and app-based threats.


Ultimately, we want all of our users to have an easy, seamless sign-in experience that includes the best security protections across all of their devices and accounts. To learn more about all the ways we’re making every day safer with Google visit our Safety Center. 


Posted by Guemmy Kim, Director, Account Security and Safety and AbdelKarim Mardini, Group Product Manager, Chrome