Publishers Question Related Website Sets, Google’s Privacy Sandbox Solution for Cross-Site Tracking

While most Privacy Sandbox solutions are designed to help the internet ecosystem still operate on Chrome once the Google browser deprecates third-party cookies this year, some proposals aim to maintain the status quo.

One such solution, Related Website Sets, is not so much about creating alternative ways to complete a function, but rather allowing cookies to continue to exist in limited contexts. And, like other Privacy Sandbox proposals, RWS is drawing controversy.

Websites use third-party cookies for a variety of functions besides creating a profile of audiences to sell to advertisers. For example, a brand or publisher might have multiple domain names where users expect to only log in once, such as a travel company with a flight and car booking website. Or, websites with different country domains might maintain functionality for their users across them. Or, there are publishers like Condé Nast, Gannett and News Corp., which own many domains and want to share information between those domains about users.

Publishers can only register five domains as part of an RWS, which several sources argued is too restrictive for publishers that operate multiple sites.

“Just because a business has 100 websites doesn’t mean” it’s violating privacy laws, said independent privacy consultant Zach Edwards. “It’s more important to not arbitrarily restrict a company.”

Others argue that RWS is too permissive because it still allows cross-site tracking, which cookie deprecation was meant to prevent.

RWS is designed for these scenarios where cross-site tracking is more about functionality than gleaning user behavior. It shows the uphill battle Privacy Sandbox faces toward wider adoption and the difficulty in threading the needle between maintaining existing processes and respecting privacy once cookies disappear.

The challenge of ensuring functionality for publishers

Chrome engineers designed RWS to minimize disrupting peoples’ browsing experiences while enhancing privacy on the web, a Google spokesperson said, noting that when browsers like Brave offered a strict fingerprinting protection mode for users, websites would function incorrectly or not at all.