WTF is Chrome’s SameSite Cookie Update?
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for chromas:
WTF is Chrome's SameSite cookie update? - Digiday:
On February, 4, Google is set to roll out a new Chrome update that promises a bunch of new features designed to make the browser faster and more secure - including a new approach to cookies.
The SameSite update will require website owners to explicitly state label the third-party cookies that can be used on other sites. Cookies without the proper labelling won't work in the Chrome browser, which has 64% of the overall browser market, according to Stacounter.
Google first announced in May last year that cookies that do not include the "SameSite=None" and "Secure" labels won't be accessible by third parties, such as ad tech companies, in Chrome version 80 and beyond. The Secure label means cookies need to be set and read via HTTPS connections.
Right now, the Chrome SameSite cookie default is: "None," which allows third-party cookies to track users across sites. But from February, cookies will default into "SameSite=Lax," which means cookies are only set when the domain in the URL of the browser matches the domain of the cookie - a first-party cookie.
Any cookie with the "SameSite=None" label must also have a secure flag, meaning it will only be created and sent through requests made over HTTPs. Meanwhile, the "SameSite=Strict" designation restricts cross-site sharing altogether, even between different domains that are owned by the same publisher.
Mozilla's Firefox and Microsoft's Edge say they will also adopt the SameSite=Lax default.
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.