Death is nigh for third-party cookies, AKA tracking cookies. Firefox and Safari already block them, and Google is set to follow suit in the not-so-far-off future. And might just set in motion the biggest disruption the digital advertising sector has witnessed in its entire history.

End of the Road

Google first announced plans to do away with tracking cookies in February 2020. This was set to take place over the next couple of years as the company worked to "address the needs of publishers, marketers, and users," in addition to "developing tools to mitigate workarounds." For that matter, Google is implementing the phase-out as part of a larger move to enhance privacy by keeping personally-identifiable user information within their ecosystem. That means no more support for third-party cookies on any of the company's products; as of late 2023 according to the most recent announcement.

A New Reality in Digital Advertising

Critics have claimed that Google's decision to phase out tracking cookies is no more than a power move to fortify its own industry position --- specifically by taking away its competitors ability to target users using third-party data. Still, this purge comes in the wake of rising privacy concerns and a growing public awareness. Combined with stricter data use regulations, these developments have significantly diminished the effectiveness of tracking cookies in recent years. So it's fair to say that the writing was already on the wall before the tech giant even announced their plans.

But that, of course, doesn't make the phase-out any less disruptive. Without the ability to track users across the web, ad personalization options will shrink dramatically. Brands will have to find creative ways to collect data directly from their target audiences through first-party cookies. Or better still, they could just utilize platforms that already have rich user databases (social media sites and the like).

English: Firefox word mark. Correct clear space (1/3 height of "F") and color (#D64203) from http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/about/logo/style.html. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Implementing Firefox Onmouseover In HTML

When writing the code for a website, it is imperative that the code can support all browsers. For example, the onmouseover event code might work in Internet Explorer or Chrome, but might have to be altered in order for the code to execute properly in Firefox. The Firefox onmouseover event executes a script that performs a specific function, such as enlarging an image.

English: Firefox 3 mac os x (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Foxconn Developing A Minimum Of 5 Firefox OS Devices

The nascent Mozilla Firefox OS, which hopes to become the third most popular operating system in mobile devices, has added an important ally to its roster. Foxconn, the frontrunner in contract electronics manufacturing has announced that it will be developing at least 5 devices running on the FireFoX OS.  Young Liu, Foxconn's general manager has indicated that the company may develop smartphones, laptops, televisions and tablets for Firefox. Meanwhile, Li Gong, Mozilla's senior-VC for mobile devices has expressed the hope that the partnership with Foxconn will help the company in attracting other manufacturers for its new OS.

donottrack (Photo credit: sam_churchill)

Proposed Legislation Will Not Hamper Internet Marketing

Many marketers have for a long time believed that the proposed legislation referred to as do not track legislation will kill internet marketing as it currently exists. However, this has been found to be an erroneous theory and the truth is that this legislation, as proposed, does not in any way kill internet marketing.

The legislation referred to as Do Not Track is basically geared towards anti-tracking. There has been a heated debate regarding the pros and cons about this particular law, especially in regards to internet marketing. According to supporters of the legislation, most of those who are professional marketers and other senior players in the tech world, the legislation will make advertising more relevant to consumers and more focused towards the message.