Author Topic: Google Chrome: "spyware"  (Read 3671 times)

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Offline Maik

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Google Chrome: "spyware"
« on: Sunday, 30 June, 2019 @ 11:38:26 »
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Goodbye, Chrome: Google’s web browser has become spy software

Our latest privacy experiment found Chrome ushered more than 11,000 tracker cookies into our browser — in a single week. Here’s why Firefox is better.

You open your browser to look at the Web. Do you know who is looking back at you?

Over a recent week of Web surfing, I peered under the hood of Google Chrome and found it brought along a few thousand friends. Shopping, news and even government sites quietly tagged my browser to let ad and data companies ride shotgun while I clicked around the Web.

This was made possible by the Web’s biggest snoop of all: Google. Seen from the inside, its Chrome browser looks a lot like surveillance software.

There are ways to defang Chrome, which is much more complicated than just using “Incognito Mode.” But it’s much easier to switch to a browser not owned by an advertising company.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/06/21/google-chrome-has-become-surveillance-software-its-time-switch

Offline Maik

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Re: Google Chrome: "spyware"
« Reply #1 on: Sunday, 30 June, 2019 @ 11:38:50 »
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Help Desk: How to fight the spies in your Chrome browser

The main lesson: If Google is a data vampire, Chrome is its fangs. For most people, not using a browser made by an advertising company is the simplest way to protect your data from thousands of tracking firms, including Google itself.

I  recommend switching to the nonprofit Firefox, which has privacy-focused default settings that automatically block tracking cookies from ad and data companies, including Google itself.

There are ways to defang Chrome, if you don’t just use the default settings. Making Chrome better respect privacy requires messing around under the hood and installing privacy software, or extensions, into the browser.

Here’s what I recommend to fight the advertising surveillance machine. Bonus: Some of these steps will also make websites load faster. Privacy for the win!

First, a warning: The “private” browsing mode in Chrome probably doesn’t do what you think it does. Incognito is the privacy equivalent of using an umbrella in a hurricane. It keeps information from being saved on your computer’s search and browsing history, which is only useful if you want to hide your activity from other people who share your browser. It does not stop websites, search engines and Internet service providers from tracking what you do.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/06/27/help-desk-how-fight-spies-your-chrome-browser/


Various other bowsers available, in addition to Firefox, many built on the same Chromium bas as Google Chrome, e.g. Opera and Microsoft Edge: 10 Best Google Chrome Alternatives