Stefan Mileschin

Google wants to ditch cookies and is close to coming up with an anonymous identifier for advertising, or AdID.

AdID would replace third-party cookies as the way advertisers track people's internet browsing activity for marketing purposes.

The tool will give users the ability to limit ad tracking through browser settings. AdID may be reset by the browser every year, and users can create a secondary AdID for super secret online browsing sessions.

If it does go ahead with the plan it could mark a major change in the $120 billion digital advertising industry.

According to USAToday, the AdID would only be transmitted to advertisers and ad networks that have agreed to basic guidelines. Google thinks this would give consumers more privacy and control over how they browse the web.

Google plans to show the idea to industry participants, government bodies and consumer groups in coming weeks and months.

Lately third-party cookies have been about as popular as the Boston Strangler with many browsers starting to block them.

If Google follows through with its own version of this approach, that could give users more control over how they are tracked online. However, it will also give Google a lot more power.

http://news.techeye.net/business/goo...cookie-monster