Security News > 2021 > April > GitHub blocks Google FLoC tracking

It turns out, this header, now being returned by GitHub sites, is actually meant for website owners to opt-out of Google FLoC tracking.

BleepingComputer also noticed the entire github.com domain had this header set, indicating GitHub did not want its visitors to be included in Google FLoC's "Cohorts" when visiting any GitHub page.

As previously reported by BleepingComputer, Google FLoC is a newer technology to replace the traditional third-party cookie tracking used by ad networks and analytics platforms to track users around the web.

As opposed to servers tracking users across the world wide web and recording their browsing history, FLoC hands off this responsibility to the user's individual web browser.

"FLoC works on your device without your browsing history being shared. Importantly, everyone in the ads ecosystem, including Google's own advertising products, will have the same access to FLoC," explained Google in a blog post.

Google's proposal to replace third-party tracking cookies with FLoC has been met with resistance from many industry players including EFF, Microsoft, Mozilla Firefox, Vivaldi, Brave, and DuckDuckGo, who are against any kind of user tracking.

News URL

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/github-blocks-google-floc-tracking/