Comment by Scion9066
3 years ago
Regarding the option of Google ceasing all behavior-based tracking to avoid competition issues: I doubt they could do that to the ad industry unilaterally. Even if they would then be following the same rules themselves, I don't think they'd be able to get away with choosing how all other advertisers must operate by doing that.
Regarding the "easier road" of having Google discontinue Chrome: WTF That would not be easier and would affect so much more.
By "easier", I mean it would be easier for the regulators to say, "you can have a dominant ad network or a dominant web browser, but not both."
But I was a bit imprecise with my language there. There are other regulatory remedies to a ruling like that besides discontinuing Chrome. For example, it could be spun off into a separate company, one which does not share any data with Google.
As for the fantasy scenario where Google stops behavior-based tracking, reading that ruling, I think they could get away with it, but there would be some grumbling. Let's say Google stopped tracking on its end, and then six months later, decided to block third-party cookies by default. Regulators could insist that Google keep third-party cookies on, but what leg would they have to stand on? Yes, it would affect their competitors in a big way, but it wouldn't give Google a distorting advantage over them.
And with every other browser blocking third-party cookies, if regulators tried to force Google to keep them, Google could just stop developing Chrome. Without behavior-based tracking, they have no business reason to develop it anymore, and how could regulators possibly say, "You have to keep making a browser, even though your competitors don't"?