This is unfortunate because Google uses Chrome as a window to peer into every action you take online.

Chrome handles over 60 percent of web traffic. It is, by far, the most popular Web browser. These cookies differentiate your browsers from others, like a nametag.Īny discussion of privacy and Web browsers must begin with Google Chrome. Cookies, or HTTP cookies, are tiny data packets that websites or services plant on your browser while you’re on a website.To see if your device has an easily identifiable fingerprint, check out the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Panopticlick.

For example, websites want to know if you’re using a laptop or a smartphone so that it can select the correct font size and screen resolution. Your device share this information to optimize the websites you visit. Device fingerprinting is when a site looks at all the characteristics of your device (the make and model of your device, what browser you are using, what plugins you have installed, what timezone you are in, etc.) until it has enough information to identify and follow it.The two tools they use to follow you around the Internet are device fingerprinting and cookies. The more data they have, the better they can show you ads specifically tailored to you. Similar to Google, advertisers and trackers want to record as much of your online browsing as possible. While having a company directly record your browsing history is a risk (see Google Chrome), the more common threats to your privacy come from online advertisers and third-party trackers. In this article, we explain how browsers capture so much information and which web browsers in 2021 are best at keeping your browsing history safe from data-hungry tech companies and advertisersįurther reading: Easy steps to improve your internet privacy How you are tracked onlineīefore examining the impact your browser can have on your privacy, you need to understand how your online activity is monitored. This is why it’s so important to only use browsers you know will protect and improve your internet privacy.

Anyone who has access to your web browser can have a window into your income, your political leanings, and even your sexual preferences. As such, it knows precisely what sites you have visited, how long you spent browsing them, and what you clicked on (or almost clicked on). Your web browser is the vehicle that carries you around the Internet to your desired websites.

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