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Privacy-first browsers look to take the shine off Google's Chrome

  

Category:  News & Politics

Via:  perrie-halpern  •  5 years ago  •  7 comments

Privacy-first browsers look to take the shine off Google's Chrome
Microsoft and Firefox are two of a number of companies and organizations looking to take a piece out of Google.

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T



By   David Ingram


Before Google, Facebook and Amazon, tech dominance was known by a single name: Microsoft.

And no product was more dominant than Microsoft’s web browser, Internet Explorer. The company’s browser was the gateway to the internet for   about   95 percent   of users in the early 2000s, which helped land Microsoft at the center of a major government effort to   break up the company .

Almost two decades later, Google’s Chrome now reigns as the biggest browser on the block, and the company is facing challenges similar to Microsoft's from competitors, as well as government scrutiny.

But Google faces a new wrinkle — a growing realization among consumers that their every digital move is tracked.

“I think Cambridge Analytica acted as a catalyst to get people aware that their data could be used in ways they didn’t expect,” said Peter Dolanjski, the product lead for Mozilla’s Firefox web browser, referring to the   scandal   in which a political consulting firm obtained data on millions of Facebook users and their friends.

And in something of a poetic role reversal, Microsoft is positioning itself to pick up the slack from people who may be fed up with Google’s Chrome browser and its questionable privacy practices. Microsoft is expected to release an overhaul of its latest browser, called Edge, in the coming months.

“If you look at anybody who’s in a position to strike back and gain market share, it would be Microsoft,” said David Smith, a vice president at the market analysis firm Gartner.

Microsoft is just one of a number of companies and organizations looking to take a piece out of Google — some using the company’s own open-source software. One name that might be familiar to most consumers — Mozilla’s Firefox browser — is also a veteran of the “ browser wars ” of two decades ago. The nonprofit Mozilla, which has been biting at the heels of leading browsers for most of its existence, is introducing more aggressive privacy settings to try to stand out and take advantage of   the   privacy   stumbles   by Google and other tech giants.

The early browser wars took place on desktop computers, before the introduction of smartphones, but the latest fight is more complicated, involving both desktop and mobile applications, and there are a lot of players.

Web browsers, being the primary way the vast majority of people experience the internet, are a crucial choke point in the digital ecosystem. While the browsers are free to users, the companies that operate them can have an outsized impact   on how the internet works   — especially if they gain a dominant market position. For a company like Google, which makes most of its money from online advertising, that has meant being able to   liberally collect user data. For a nonprofit like Mozilla, more users means the chance to convince developers and other tech companies to adopt their privacy-focused standards.

Smaller browsers like Opera, Brave and Vivaldi   have   devoted followings , in part because of privacy promises but also because they have a lot in common with Chrome. Google released most of the code behind Chrome as a free, open-source resource called Chromium, a foundation others can use to make browsers with similar functionality.

Last year, Microsoft decided to join the club, saying it would rebuild its Edge browser from the same, open-source Chromium engine, and even make a   desktop version   for the Mac. Early versions are   available   for   preview .

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has talked up the future of the browser,   saying   at the company’s annual developer conference in May that he wanted it to be the “one browser” for people to use “across their work and life” — on desktop computers, tablets and smartphones.

How Microsoft will approach the privacy question is unclear, however. Nadella said he wanted to “push the envelope” by making it transparent to users which cookies are being used to track them — a position far short of what Firefox promises, for example — but the company also   says   it’s in the “early stages of exploring how best to empower users” on the browser.

Meanwhile, Google is facing a deluge of complaints about its size and power — much as Microsoft did two decades ago. The Justice Department is preparing an antitrust investigation of Google,   according   to The Wall Street Journal, and the company has become a   top   political   target   for both Democrats and Republicans.

Chrome, with more than   60 percent   market share worldwide, is yet another source of complaints about Google’s power, after its search engine and advertisement businesses. Last year, Chrome changed the system for logging in to the browser, a move that one researcher   said   could allow Google to collect data much more easily.

Firefox trails Microsoft in corporate size and influence, but it is pressing other browsers on privacy and playing up its status as a nonprofit. Last month, Firefox   changed the initial settings   for new users so that third-party tracking “cookies” such as those used for ad purposes are blocked — meaning the default is no tracking.

Ads don’t go away with the change. Instead, they become less personalized and, the thinking goes, less creepy.

Firefox plans to roll out the change to existing users of the browser in the coming months, making it more difficult for advertisers to follow its users around the web. The company is a distant third in the browser market at 5 percent, according to StatCounter.

A technology columnist at the Post wrote in a scathing   review   last month that he was switching from Chrome to Firefox, calling Google’s product “a lot like surveillance software.” In a week of desktop websurfing, the columnist, Geoffrey Fowler, wrote that he discovered 11,189 requests for tracker cookies that were blocked by Firefox but would have been allowed by Chrome.

Apple’s Safari web browser has used similar cookie-blocking technology   since 2017 , and it regularly   updates   the browser to try to stay ahead of Facebook and Google’s tracking systems.

Chrome is planning updates of its own in an effort to give users more reasons to stick with the browser and   reassure them   about privacy. In May, Google   said   it would require third-party developers to better label their cookies in a way that Chrome will be able to read and classify, so that users can decide which ones to block.

The browser fight has become heated enough to worry the advertising and media industries. Advertisers have become used to filling up websites with sometimes dozens of “cookies” and other forms of online tracking, and they fear a wider backlash against personalized, data-driven ads.

Last year, the IAB Tech Lab, which works on behalf of the industry to try to set standards for online ads,   set up a working group   and stepped up direct talks with the makers of web browsers.

“We’re working on collaborating with browsers to find solutions that put consumers at the center,” Sam Tingleff, the IAB Tech Lab’s chief technology officer, said. “We think there’s a reasonable middle ground to do so and enable better overall user experiences.”

For now, there are few signs that Google’s browser dominance will end anytime soon, but the tech industry is riddled with examples of companies that appeared to be invincible just before their fall, including with web browsers.

“It wasn’t clear that there was going to be anything that took down Internet Explorer,” Smith, of Gartner, said. “But it happened.”



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Perrie Halpern R.A.
Professor Principal
1  seeder  Perrie Halpern R.A.    5 years ago

I still like the way that Chrome runs, so until they can do better than that, I'm sticking with my nosey Chrome. 

 
 
 
Raven Wing
Professor Guide
1.1  Raven Wing  replied to  Perrie Halpern R.A. @1    5 years ago

Same here. I was a Microsoft Internet Explorer MVP for 4 years and worked for the developer, programmers and Security during that time and it worked OK. However, as development progressed it became more complicated and tried to do too many things that made it a less than adequate program to me. So I switched to FireFox. But, it too left something to be desired. Thus, I went for Chrome and have used it as my default browser since. 

So, like you say, unless they come up with something else better, I'm sticking with Chrome.

 
 
 
Enoch
Masters Quiet
1.1.1  Enoch  replied to  Raven Wing @1.1    5 years ago

Dear Sister Raven Wing: Since Microsoft will no longer support Windows 7 by January next, I need to get a new computer in order to install Windows 10.

Ten will not function properly on my stone aged digital tower of Babel.

Will that make any difference to which browser I choose?

Since I do Chaplaincy on line globally protecting the privacy and confidentiality of those who come to me is vital. 

For now, I invested more than a few shekels in firewalls and such to make sure what happens in private emails stays there.

Please do let me know your thoughts.

P&AB Always.

Enoch.

 
 
 
Raven Wing
Professor Guide
1.1.2  Raven Wing  replied to  Enoch @1.1.1    5 years ago
Will that make any difference to which browser I choose?

Dear Brother and Mentor Enoch,

Windows 10 has been released for some time so there should be a version of Internet Explorer, Mozilla FireFox and Chrome available for download from the Internet. These should work fine in Windows 10. Here are some links to these Browsers for Windows 10.

Chrome:

Internet Explorer 11: Internet Explorer 11 is a built-in feature of Windows 10, so there's nothing you need to install. ... Select Internet Explorer (Desktop app) from the results. If you can't find Internet Explorer on your device, you'll need to add it as a feature. Select Start > Search , and enter Windows features.

FireFox:

If you need any help with this please don't hesitate to contact me. I am most happy to help. (smile)

 
 
 
The Magic 8 Ball
Masters Quiet
2  The Magic 8 Ball    5 years ago

I use avg secure browser... runs like a top.

 
 
 
SteevieGee
Professor Silent
2.1  SteevieGee  replied to  The Magic 8 Ball @2    5 years ago

I've used Firefox for many years.  I use the DuckDuckGo search engine because they (supposedly) don't even gather and store your information and I use avg antivirus.  I've long suspected that companies like Norton have actually created viruses so that they can tout fast response times and boost sales.  I also set my browser to delete my cookies upon shut down so that when Google inevitably gets in there there's not much to see.

 
 
 
The Magic 8 Ball
Masters Quiet
2.1.1  The Magic 8 Ball  replied to  SteevieGee @2.1    5 years ago
I've used Firefox for many years. 

I have that installed also... avg secure browser is faster. 

 
 

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