how to keep the wrong sorts of people out of your place

25 April 2021

How to keep the wrong sorts of people out of your place, using Google FLoC.

Post a FLoC checker QR code.

FLoC QR code

Make everybody scan it when they come in.
Check their phones.
- Green: good cohort
- Red: bad or missing cohort. If they turned off FLoC or installed an alt-browser, they're probably hiding that they're in a bad cohort.
- Blue: Apple Safari, you figure it out.

(no, I don't think anybody should actually do this, but it's only a little bit of JavaScript so people are certainly going to try. So it could turn out that non-Google browsers will end up having to provide a realistic cohort instead of just not implementing FLoC.)

Bonus links

Sources: Google's Ethical AI group was in turmoil long before the ouster of Gebru and Mitchell, after friction over handling of harassment and bias allegations

Lina Khan’s timely tech skepticism makes for a refreshingly friendly FTC confirmation hearing

Organized Mimicry: Employers Against the Free Market

WordPress Contributors Propose Blocking FLoC in Core

Get the FLoC out

The ascent of Lina Khan, tech antitrust icon

For Big Tech whistleblowers, there’s no such thing as 'moving on'

Millions of Chrome users quietly added to Google’s FLoC pilot

Google is poisoning its reputation with AI researchers

No, Google! Vivaldi users will not get FLoC’ed.

How the tech industry is sowing confusion about privacy laws

‘We can’t un-FLoC ourselves’: Google’s cookieless ad targeting proposal under fire from ethics researchers, lawmakers for discriminatory potential

Alphabet shareholder pushes Google for better whistleblower protections

Google Is Testing Its Controversial New Ad Targeting Tech in Millions of Browsers. Here’s What We Know.