

Google May Stop Using Cookies to Track Web Users - mandeepj
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-may-stop-using-cookies-002000353.html

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alexforster
Anybody have references to the technical details behind this change?

One way I can think of would be to use ETag headers, which are intended to be
used for caching but can be abused for tracking purposes[1] since by
definition the browser is required to send back the server-provided ETag
value.

Alternatively (or additionally), browser fingerprinting[2] seems like the
perfect candidate technology to replace cookies for tracking purposes, since
it can't easily be "cleared".

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_ETag#Tracking_using_ETags](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_ETag#Tracking_using_ETags)
[2] [https://panopticlick.eff.org](https://panopticlick.eff.org)

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viennacoder
I would think you use a combination of IP address, browser fingerprint, and
machine fingerprint.

Much better than cookies, because the user can't delete anything. Plus the
fingerprints would still work across browsers (I think).

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Encosia
> Google has resisted efforts to block cookies on its Chrome browser.

This doesn't seem quite right to me. I've been using Chrome's built-in third
party cookie blocking for at least a couple years now. Coming from Firefox,
that was one of the biggest things I missed at first in Chrome, so it remember
being relieved when it was added relatively quickly.

