Opt out of FLoC cohort calculation

Release notes

To avoid users being tracked and categorized in any GitLab instance, Gitlab should send the

Permissions-Policy: interest-cohort=()

header by default.

Problem to solve

Chrome rolled out the FLoC feature already, where users are now categorized into different cohorts.

Advertisers will use this to uniquely target and track users

Intended users

Everyday normal person. From Compliance Manager to Content Editor.

User experience goal

The user should not be tracked and categorized by on his/her visits to gitlab.com or any other GitLab instance.

See: https://github.com/WICG/floc

Proposal

Disable FLoC by default. We can explore making this configurable based on demand.

To disable by default, we should send this header by default

Permissions-Policy: interest-cohort=()

Available Tier

• Free

What does success look like, and how can we measure that?

FLoC should not consider gitlab.com browsing data

Links / references

• https://github.com/WICG/floc#privacy-and-security-considerations
• https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/30/google-starts-trialling-its-floc-cookie-alternative-in-chrome/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIeEQvoHsCQpLGg-Y1h8NnIT5hauoepskVM_edF4eDz5nXCTPd-W83UR5_kGSIAodt_VfxW7kjyhYDsmuxQrcDErRw7w2Sje2xNLiWJyDqLzIReEirFkJUI_NCi_t2lWMu2cnr7yKP2AQVb5647lkeVf1FzcFIaqj6XcF-V9dNbe
• https://paramdeo.com/blog/opting-your-website-out-of-googles-floc-network