Goodbye FLoC, hello Topics

> The Topics "are thoughtfully curated to exclude sensitive categories, such as gender or race".

Why is this a good thing? I don't want ads for feminine hygiene products, or make-up. What are 'sensitive categories' anyway? Gender and race, apparently. I don't think they're particularly sensitive, personally. What else? Is it basically the same as the list of factors you aren't typically allowed to factor in when hiring people? Does it include things like having children? Or that you are planning to have children? Does it include highly gendered topics like 'make up' or 'skirts' or 'business suits'? Does it include things that correlate with 'sensitive topics'? Is political affiliation a sensitive topic?

I now see the categories are public. And indeed it does include '/Arts & Entertainment/Music & Audio/Soul & R&B', '/Arts & Entertainment/Music & Audio/Rap & Hip-Hop' and '/Arts & Entertainment/Music & Audio/World Music/Reggae & Caribbean Music'. I wonder how much those correlate with race.

It includes '/Arts & Entertainment/TV Shows & Programs/TV Family-Oriented Shows'. It includes '/Beauty & Fitness/Face & Body Care/Make-Up & Cosmetics'. It includes '/Hobbies & Leisure/Outdoors/Hunting & Shooting'. It includes '/Jobs & Education/Education/Early Childhood Education'. It is not hard to imagine some of these being *highly* correlated with certain protected 'sensitive' categories.

Facebook got a lot of flack for allowing people to target ads at certain political groupings around the 2016 American elections. I don't see how Google will prevent people from targeting 'Rap & Hip-Hop' + 'Basketball' if they wanted to target African-Americans, or 'Hunting & Shooting' + 'Country Music' + 'Pickup Trucks' if they wanted to target "redneck" Americans, etc. etc. If this is meant to produce something that can't be used to target so-called "sensitive categories" then it's a blatant failure.