Surprise new tracking goes live.Jaap Arriens/NurPhotoRepublished on February 20th with new report into the multi-billion dollar data harvesting industry and its staggering growth, all fueled by unlimited user tracking.Google Chrome users are being tracked. Last years decision to resurrect tracking cookies triggered a privacy storm, as did alleged data collection from private browsing sessions. But Googles planned new upgrade should fix this once and for all. Dont get too excited, though. Theres a nasty new tracking surprise that has just gone live.First to the good news. Tracking cookies will finally be killed by a one time global prompt upgrade, giving Chrome users an Apple-like choice between being tracked and (more likely) not being tracked. All good, albeit the timing is unclear and the industry seems worried that this may unfairly advantage Google, given its own account tracking. As such we await the inevitable regulatory green light and potential delays.But while thats a good privacy move, the surprising update thats just gone live seems to be bad news for those same users benefiting from a one-time global prompt. Were talking digital fingerprinting, which Google prohibited as wrong in 2019 but has now resurrected. As of February 16th, fingerprinting has also been expanded to track all your devices such as smart TVs and gaming consoles, providing a rich new seam of your data for the advertising industry to mine.Privacy campaigners have called Googles new rules on tracking people online a blatant disregard for user privacy, BBC News reported this weekend, citing Mozillas Martin Thomson warning that Google has given itself - and the advertising industry it dominates - permission to use a form of tracking that people cant do much to stop.The UKs data regulator explains that fingerprinting involves the collection of pieces of information about a devices software or hardware, which, when combined, can uniquely identify a particular device and user, echoing Thomsons warning that even privacy-conscious users will find this difficult to stop.Google says that the reversal reflects a new device landscape, with smart devices enabling a broader range of surfaces on which ads are served, while telling BBC News that privacy-enhancing technologies offer new ways for our partners to succeed on emerging platforms... without compromising on user privacy.There was little furor when Google announced this change in December, as I reported at the time. But with it now live, there has been more of a pushback and it remains unclear how regulators will respond. French data regulator CNIL, for example, has warned that the use of fingerprinting for advertising purposes requires the consent of users who must be able to refuse as simply as accept.Meanwhile, Google says we continue to give users choice whether to receive personalized ads, and will work across the industry to encourage responsible data use." Only time will tell what happens next as all our devices start reporting back. Clearly Google and the regulators cant both be right. For the time being, fingerprinting cant be stopped. We will need to see a mandatory opt-out to change that.The data industryvpnMentorA new report from vpnMentor sheds some light on whats going on behind the scenes, as all your data is collected, harvested and monetized. And just as with everything else, this is a market being reshaped by AI, just as the volume of data increases.This industry has long been the silent director of information exchange in the digital space, vpnMentor says, influencing how data is amassed, packaged, and monetized. Data brokers tap multiple sources and methods to collect information on consumers and build dynamic user profiles, which are then sold to third parties.The stats are stark. This data brokerage industry is already worth around US$390 billion, and could grow to as much as US$672 billion by 2032. If these reported values are accurate, vpnMentor says, this makes this an industry on a par with or even great then social medial and cybersecurity. You can see why theres so much hunger for more of your data from more of your devices.What remains unclear is how AI will impact these numbers as it becomes more prevalent. Were still at the early stages of this journey. The increasing rate of digital adoption worldwide, coupled with the rapid pace of innovation in the tech and automation sectors, has only made consumer data an ever more valuable asset. Data brokers are already implementing cross-device tracking to facilitate dynamic profiling. AI advancements, meanwhile, are simplifying information scraping and processing, which enables more aggressive data brokering.Meanwhile, Chrome users are left with the irony of a simultaneous good move on tracking cookies and bad move on fingerprinting. The ad industry needs your data, and that is unlikely to change. I have reached out to Google to ask whether an opt-out may come after all, and will update if I hear anything back. Nothing so far.