Web Browsers and Privacy
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Wired ☛ Best Privacy Browsers (2024): Brave, Safari, Ghostery, Firefox, DuckDuckGo
Google, for its part, says it’s transparent about what data it’s storing and why—and in recent years it has made it easier for users to see and delete the information held about them. To really lock down your privacy and security, though, it’s best to switch to a browser not made by a company that earns billions of dollars selling ads.
And there are alternatives: Below we recommend several browsers built with user privacy and security as a priority. Even better, in many cases they can import data such as bookmarks and passwords from your current browser—Google Chrome, for example.
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Security Week ☛ Browsing in Incognito Mode Doesn’t Protect You as Much as You Might Think
The settlement disclosed Monday in a federal court is primarily designed to ensure that users who use Incognito mode in Chrome get more privacy while surfing the internet than they had been previously.
Although Google isn’t paying any money to consumers, the lawyers who filed the case in June 2020 believe the stricter safeguards will be worth $4.75 billion to $7.8 billion, based on the estimated value of the personal information protected by the settlement.
Nearly every major browser now has a private browsing mode. Here’s a look at what they do and don’t do for surfers.
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The Register UK ☛ Microsoft's bid to play Google's Privacy Sandbox questioned
As described by Microsoft, the Ad Selection API resembles Google's Protected Audience API, which aims to provide a way to deliver targeted ads through an auction process without the privacy problems associated with third-party cookies. The software giant's plan hasn't yet been implemented, but already AdGuard, a vendor of ad-blocking software, says it will block the API due to privacy concerns.
HTTP cookies are files that web applications store in browsers to help maintain state (eg, whether you're logged in, your preferences) and to perform other functions, some necessary and some not. Websites may also allow third parties to set cookies, which have traditionally been used for tracking people online, assisting with targeted ad delivery, and analyzing user behavior.