Recently, we wrote about the Chrome update, which will be out in December. With version 71 of the popular browser, the adblocker is tightened, promising more security to users. As announced a few days ago, the update, but still has other surprising innovations ready: In the future, the Chrome browser warns its users of hidden costs on the visited websites.
Especially in Europe, there are now in the wake of the GDPR a lot of information notices that are displayed to the user when opening a website. Cookies, privacy statements and perhaps even newsletter subscriptions make sure that the user clicks and confirms a lot, without looking exactly what he does. For some websites, however, this can lead to falling into a cost trap, if not exactly what is confirmed there. Before that, Google wants to protect its users in the future.
According to Google, it is not always easy to discover traps when using mobile devices. Some mobile sites asks the user for the phone number to display content. This can be harmless – or even an unrecognizable registration for a paid service. Although clarified in terms and conditions about it, but they are designed so extensive that hardly anyone reads them completely before an input is made. Google wants to achieve with the new version of Chrome that website operators integrate information about possible costs already in the sign-up process. The user should be clearly shown when, what costs incurred. If website operators do not comply with this request, their users will be given a clear warning signal via the browser. The user can then decide whether to visit the site or avoid it.
Webmasters will be notified by Google itself if their identifiers are not obvious enough. You then have the opportunity to make a change. If they do not do that, Chrome will classify them as “insecure”. Depending on how many visitors come via the Chrome browser, it is imperative to comply with the request, if you do not want to lose too much traffic. We are curious how a Chrome-compliant label will look in the future.
