all-in-one privacy solution":["Proton Unlimited is een all-in-one privacy-oplossing"],"Black Friday":["Black Friday"],"No ads. Privacy by default.":["Geen advertenties. Standaard privacy."],"People before profits":["Mensen vóór winst"],"Security through transparency":["Veiligheid door openheid"],"The best Proton Mail ${ BLACK_FRIDAY } deals":["De beste ${ BLACK_FRIDAY }-deals voor Proton Mail"],"The world’s only community- supported email service":["'s Werelds enige door de community ondersteunde e-mailservice"]},"specialoffer:limited":{"${ hours } hour":["${ hours } uur","${ hours } uur"],"${ hoursLeft }, ${ minutesLeft } and ${ secondsLeft } left":["Nog ${ hoursLeft }, ${ minutesLeft } en ${ secondsLeft } resterend"],"${ minutes } minute":["${ minutes } minuut","${ minutes } minuten"],"${ seconds } second":["${ seconds } seconde","${ seconds } seconden"],"Limited time offer":["Aanbieding beperkt geldig"]},"specialoffer:listitem":{"Create multiple addresses":["Maak meerdere e-mailadressen aan"],"Hide-my-email aliases":["Hide-my-email-aliassen"],"Quickly unsubscribe from newsletters":["Meld u eenvoudig af voor nieuwsbrieven"],"Use your own domain name":["Gebruik uw eigen domeinnaam"]},"specialoffer:logos":{"As featured in":["Zoals te lezen in"]},"specialoffer:metadescription":{"Get an encrypted email that protects your privacy":["Kies voor beveiligde e-mail die uw privacy beschermt"]},"specialoffer:metatitle":{"Proton Mail Black Friday Sale - Up to 40% off":["Proton Mail Black Friday Sale - Tot 40% korting"]},"specialoffer:newmetadescription":{"Get up to 40% off Proton Mail subscriptions this Black Friday. Find great deals on our secure end-to-end encrypted email plans.":["Profiteer tijdens Black Friday van wel 40% korting op Proton Mail-abonnementen. Bekijk geweldige aanbiedingen voor onze veilige, end-to-end versleutelde e-mailabonnementen."]},"specialoffer:newmetatitle":{"Proton Mail Black Friday sale | Up to 40% off secure email":["Proton Mail Black Friday Sale | Tot 40% korting op veilige e-mail"]},"specialoffer:note":{"* Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first year":["*U betaalt ${ TOTAL_SUM } voor het eerste jaar"],"*Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first 2 years":["*U betaalt ${ TOTAL_SUM } voor de eerste 2 jaar"],"30-day money-back guarantee":["30 dagen niet-goed-geld-terug-garantie"],"Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first 2 years":["U betaalt ${ TOTAL_SUM } voor de eerste 2 jaar"],"Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first year":["U betaalt ${ TOTAL_SUM } voor het eerste jaar"],"You save ${ SAVE_SUM }":["U bespaart ${ SAVE_SUM }"]},"specialoffer:off":{"${ PERCENT_OFF } off":["−${ PERCENT_OFF }"]},"specialoffer:testimonial":{"I love my ProtonMail":["Ik ben fan van ProtonMail"],"My favorite email service":["Mijn favoriete e-mailservice"],"Thanks Proton for keeping us all safe in the complicated internet universe.":["Proton houdt ons allemaal veilig in het complexe internetuniversum."],"You get what you pay for. In the case of big tech, if you pay nothing, you get used. I quit using Gmail and switched to @ProtonMail":["Je krijgt waarvoor je betaalt. In het geval van Big Tech betekent 'gratis' dat je wordt gebruikt. Ik ben gestopt met Gmail en overgestapt op @ProtonMail"]},"specialoffer:time":{"Days":["Dagen"],"Hours":["Uur"],"Min":["Min"]},"specialoffer:title":{"And much more":["En nog veel meer"],"Safe from trackers":["Beschermd tegen trackers"],"Stay organized":["Blijf georganiseerd"],"Black Friday email deals":["Black Friday-deals voor e-mail"],"Don’t just take our word for it":["U hoeft ons niet te geloven"],"Make your inbox yours":["Maak uw inbox van u"],"Our story":["Ons verhaal"],"Transfer your data from Google in one click":["Zet uw gegevens van Google over met één klik"]},"specialoffer:tooltip":{"Access blocked content and browse privately. Includes ${ TOTAL_VPN_SERVERS }+ servers in ${ TOTAL_VPN_COUNTRIES }+ countries, connect up to 10 devices, access worldwide streaming services, malware and ad-blocker, and more.":["Bekijk geblokkeerde inhoud en surf privé. Met ${ TOTAL_VPN_SERVERS }+ servers in meer dan ${ TOTAL_VPN_COUNTRIES } landen, verbinding met maximaal 10 apparaten, wereldwijd toegang tot streamingdiensten, malware- en advertentieblokkering, en meer."],"Easily share your calendar with your family, friends or colleagues, and view external calendars.":["Deel uw agenda eenvoudig met uw familie, vrienden of collega's, en bekijk externe agenda's."],"Includes support for 1 custom email domain, 10 email addresses, 10 hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Ondersteuning voor 1 aangepast e-maildomein, 10 e-mailadressen, 10 hide-my-email-aliassen, gedeelde agenda's en meer."],"Includes support for 3 custom email domains, 15 email addresses, unlimited hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Ondersteuning voor 3 aangepaste e-maildomeinen, 15 e-mailadressen, onbeperkt hide-my-email-aliassen, gedeelde agenda's en meer."],"Manage up to 25 calendars, mobile apps, secured with end-to-end encryption, 1-click calendar import from Google, and more.":["Beheer tot 25 agenda's, mobiele apps, beveiligd met end-to-end versleuteling, agenda's van Google importeren met 1 klik, en meer."]},"Status banner":{"Learn more":["Meer informatie"],"Please note that at the moment we are experiencing issues with the ${ issues[0] } service.":["We ondervinden op dit moment problemen met de ${ issues[0] }service."],"We are experiencing issues with one or more services at the moment.":["We ondervinden momenteel problemen met een of meer services."]},"Status Banner":{"At the moment we are experiencing issues with the Proton VPN service":["Momenteel werkt de dienst van Proton VPN niet naar behoren"],"Learn more":["Meer informatie"]},"steps":{"Step":["Stap"]},"suggestions":{"Suggestions":["Suggesties"]},"Support":{"Sub category":["Subcategorie","Subcategorieën"]},"Support article":{"${ readingTime } min":["${ readingTime } min","${ readingTime } min"],"Category":["Categorie","Categorieën"],"Didn’t find what you were looking for?":["Niet gevonden wat u zocht?"],"General contact":["Algemene contactgegevens"],"Get help":["Krijg hulp"],"Legal contact":["Contactgegevens voor juridische zaken"],"Media contact":["Contactgegevens voor media"],"Partnerships contact":["Contactgegevens voor partnerschappen"],"Reading":["Lezen"]},"Support Form Platform option":{"VPN for Android TV":["VPN voor Android TV"],"VPN for Apple TV":["VPN voor Apple TV"],"VPN for Chromebook":["VPN voor Chromebook"]},"Support troubleshooting":{"App version":["App-versie"],"Browser":["Browser"],"Check if this helps":["Kijk of dit helpt"],"Choose a product":["Kies een product"],"Did this solve your issue?":["Heeft dit uw probleem opgelost?"],"Faster assistance is just a few clicks away":["Snellere hulp is met een paar klikken geregeld"],"How can we help?":["Hoe kunnen we helpen?"],"No, contact support":["Nee, contact opnemen met ondersteuning"],"Please fill out one field after another":["Vul de velden achter elkaar in"],"Please make your selections":["Maak een keuze"],"Proton account":["Proton-account"],"Proton for Business":["Proton for Business"],"Thank you for your feedback":["Bedankt voor uw feedback"],"What can we help with?":["Waar kunnen we mee helpen?"],"Yes":["Ja"]},"support_modal_search_query":{"Search query":["Zoekopdracht"]},"support_search_button":{"Search":["Zoeken"]},"support_search_i_am_looking_for":{"I'm looking for":["Ik ben op zoek naar"]},"SupportForm":{"For a faster resolution, please report the issue from the Bridge app: Help > Report a problem.":["Om problemen sneller op te lossen, meldt u het via de Bridge-app: Help > Een probleem melden."],"Information":["Informatie"]},"SupportForm:option":{"Account Security":["Accountbeveiliging"],"Contacts":["Contactpersonen"],"Custom email domain":["Aangepast e-maildomein"],"Email delivery and Spam":["E-maillevering en spam"],"Encryption":["Versleuteling"],"Login and password":["Inlognaam en wachtwoord"],"Merge aliases and accounts":["Aliassen en accounts 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Includes ${ TOTAL_VPN_SERVERS }+ servers in ${ TOTAL_VPN_COUNTRIES }+ countries, highest VPN speed, ${ TOTAL_VPN_CONNECTIONS } VPN connections, worldwide streaming services, malware and ad-blocker, and more.":["Bekijk geblokkeerde inhoud en surf privé. 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Google has made sure that 2023 will go down as the year of privacy washing. It introduced a new “ad privacy feature” for Chrome in September, and now it’s broadened the release of the beta version of Ad Topics for Android (both part of its misleadingly named Privacy Sandbox initiative). In both instances, Google sold a move to give itself total monopolistic control over the ability to spy on your activity as a “privacy feature”.
If your smartphone runs Android 13, you’ve likely seen this pop-up screen that touts Android has “new ways to limit what apps can learn about you”. Notice how it doesn’t say it will limit what Google can learn about you.
In fact, all Google has done is remove other organizations’ ability to see what you’re doing without consulting it, making it just another attempt by Google to redefine privacy as “No one can see your information — no one but us”.
How does Ad Topics on Android work?
Previously, Android devices allowed apps to share your information, including your device’s Android advertising ID, geographic location, device type, operating system, mobile carrier, keyboard language, and more, directly with third parties, such as advertisers and data brokers. In this system, the advertising ID is one of the most valuable bits of data because it’s persistent and allows third parties to build a profile on you by tracking your activity across different apps.
This system is obviously flawed for your privacy, as it’s difficult to know which apps share what information and with whom.
With its Ad Topics beta, Google is rebuilding the Android operating system to prevent these parties from being able to access this information directly. Instead, your Android device will now store your app activity locally. Then, Google — and only Google — aggregates and processes this information to assign you topics of interest based on the apps you use and your activity in them. Finally, third parties and apps go to Google and ask it which topic groups you’re in so they can show you targeted ads.
Google claims it anonymizes this data before sharing it with third parties. Ad Topics also groups you into interest groups rather than having Google track you individually, allowing it to do away with the advertising ID. It also allows you to exit any interest group you don’t want to be in. (You’d be within your rights to be skeptical of Google’s willingness to let you leave interest groups — just last year, Google settled a lawsuit(nieuw venster) over continuing to track Android users’ location even after they turned the feature off.)
But Google is still monitoring every app you open, what you do in them, and using that data to sell ads.
With Ad Topics, Google is using the pretext of privacy to box out the competition and keep all your data to itself.
To make matters worse, Google isn’t turning off its other tracking systems in Android. Ad Topics exists simultaneously with the previous system based on the Android advertising ID, and it’s up to apps to voluntarily opt in. This essentially means that you’re being monitored by two separate systems on your Android device, and according to a statement from 2022(nieuw venster), the earliest Google will shut down advertising IDs is sometime in 2024.
Can you turn off Ad Topics?
You might have noticed in the screenshot above that there was no Accept or Decline option, only a Got it button. If you tap “Got it”, it turns on app suggested ads and ad measurement. In true Google fashion, it nudges you toward the maximum amount of surveillance.
Fortunately, you can turn off Ad Topics — you simply need to dig through several layers of menus.
Not all Android will have Ad Topics enabled yet. The following directions are for a Google Pixel 7. Steps may vary, and menus may have different names on other Android devices.
Tap Settings (the gear icon).
Go to Security & privacy → More privacy settings → Ads → Ad privacy → Ad topics.
Tap the toggle switch next to Allow ad topics.
Google thinks your data belongs to it
Just like the Google VPN(nieuw venster) and the “ad privacy features” for Chrome that preceded it, the Ad Topics for Android is the embodiment of privacy washing. Google is disguising a calculated effort to get complete control of user data on Android devices as a privacy-protecting initiative, even though it’s not stopping any of its data collection. It’s misleading and an abuse of its status as a gatekeeper of the Android operating system.
If Google were truly concerned about your privacy, it wouldn’t replace one system of surveillance with another (or run two on your Android simultaneously). It would find a new way to bring in revenue that didn’t rely on monetizing its user base’s private information.
Unfortunately for us, Google as a business is entirely dependent on advertising. In 2022, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, made roughly $224.5 billion from advertising(nieuw venster), or almost 80% of its revenue. Even minimal attempts to introduce true privacy would fundamentally alter the company.
Google wants to have it both ways — it wants to appeal to the global privacy movement that only continues to grow without actually giving up any of its access to your information. Hence it dresses up new surveillance systems as privacy features.
For privacy to take root on the internet, we must reject these privacy-washing attempts.
Choose true privacy
We think the online surveillance that has permeated the internet is bad for democracy, a disaster for human rights, and makes us all easier to manipulate. Proton was founded to resist these exact types of surveillance systems.
We built end-to-end encrypted systems that put people in charge of what happens to their information and chose a business model that allows us to grow and thrive without monetizing our community’s information.