Setting the Record Straight on Google’s Safari Tracking

Jonathan Mayer, the researcher who first uncovered Google’s circumvention of Safari’s cookie privacy settings:

Apple’s purpose was not messing with Google. The default cookie blocking feature that Google circumvented was implemented in Safari 1.0, which shipped in 2003 — long before Google was in the third-party display advertising business, and long before relations between the companies soured over smartphones. Furthermore, Safari has repeatedly been a pioneer in browser privacy. Safari 1.0 included a simple “privacy reset” choice for clearing browser settings; the other major browsers followed with similar features. Safari 2.0, released in 2005, was the first browser to provide a “private browsing” mode; again, all the other major browsers followed.

Overall, a rather scathing indictment of Google’s explanation for its behavior here.

★ Saturday, 25 February 2012