Summarized by durumis AI
- Third-party cookies will be blocked after March 2024, and the advertising system will change.
- Social login is also based on third-party cookies, so the new technology, FedCM, will replace it.
- FedCM is a more secure social login method that can also respond to the blocking of third-party cookies.
The demise of third-party cookies is upon us. Before we delve into the details, let's first briefly explain what third-party cookies are.
As we surf the web, we leave behind a trail of ourselves through small data pieces called 'cookies'. It's like Hansel and Gretel leaving behind breadcrumbs (in fact, the name 'cookie' comes from Hansel and Gretel). Through these breadcrumbs we leave behind, we can 'log in', measure 'web traffic', or run 'optimized' ads.
But what are 'third-party' cookies among them?
Let's take an example. Suppose we visit a site called 'example.com'. To measure where users come from and where they go, we can use an analytics tool called Google Analytics. To display ads, we can use Google Adsense. In this case, we use Google's cookies. Naturally, the domain will be different from example.com. Cookies from 'different domains' are called third-party cookies.
Since the beginning of the internet age when web browsers started supporting cookies, most browsers were able to handle cookies regardless of the domain. However, as privacy issues grew and became a topic of discussion, many web browsers, led by Safari, started blocking third-party cookies.
So, have all third-party cookies disappeared? Of course not. They are still available. However, they have become inconvenient to use, typically requiring users to go into the 'options' and turn on the setting to allow cookies to be used. So, their use has actually decreased significantly.
However, Google's Chrome has not restricted third-party cookies to the end, citing various reasons.
But as time has passed, Google can no longer delay blocking third-party cookies. Now, Google has started to gradually restrict third-party cookies in the latest Chrome and announced that it will block all third-party cookies after the third quarter of 2024.
This is actually a story that has been widely known. So, the advertising system will change, and things like Google Analytics will change a lot.
However, there is one more fact that is not generally known. It is 'social login'.
Basically, social login is also often based on third-party cookies.
Often, as you browse many websites, you will see Google login in the upper right or lower left corner.
However, with the end of third-party cookies, this social login part will also be problematic. With Chrome, which previously continued to support third-party cookies, users' information automatically appeared, making it easy to trust and log in. Now that third-party cookies are gone, my information will no longer be displayed, making it more likely to be exposed to phishing (of course, you can prevent phishing with a little care).
Therefore, Google has introduced a new login technology called 'FedCM (Federated Credential Management)'. Translated into Korean, it can be understood as 'United Credential Management'.
FedCM can be understood as integrated third-party login authentication management. Although this technology is not yet applied to all web browsers and not all companies are using it, it is already applied to desktop Chrome by default, and Safari and Firefox are said to be interested.
First, let me briefly explain the technology.
First of all, do you see the window above? It looks a bit different from the previous one, with a slightly rounded design, but it's actually completely different.
If the existing window is a single component or fragment of a 'web page', the newly changed window is not a 'web browser' itself. In other words, it is an independent area that cannot be controlled or accessed using HTML or Javascript.
This has a very significant meaning.
If the existing window could be bypassed or phishing could be attempted using tricks, the new method would make it impossible.
Also, any site that provides social login can use this technology. For example, services like Facebook, Naver, and Daum can use FedCM to support login. It becomes a kind of standard technology.
Although it is not yet a complete technology, once it is fully established, users will be able to safely log in from among the social logins provided when logging in to a site through FedCM.
As I mentioned earlier, this technology is currently only available in Chrome on computers. However, as Google is actively developing this technology, I believe it will soon be available on mobile Chrome as well.