[ad_1]
Security experts are wondering about the update of the Google Chrome browser which they believe undermines the privacy of users.
The problem is complex, but it's about how and when users choose to sign in to the Chrome browser (which is different from connecting to Google services like Gmail). In earlier versions of the browser, it was a voluntary step. This means that users can sync information such as bookmarks, passwords, and device-to-device browsing history, a feature that Google calls "Chrome Sync." It also means that their user data is stored on
But with Chrome 69, the latest version of the browser, whenever someone connects to a Google service such as Gmail or YouTube, he is now automatically signed in to Chrome. This, critics say, is a sneaky change that will drive people to inadvertently share more data with Google.
Criticism of the update has been bubbling all weekend, with Adrienne Porter Felt, engineer and director of Chrome. explain the change on Twitter late last night. Felt said the change was made to avoid a problem experienced by some users when sharing devices.
My teammates made this change to avoid surprises in a shared device scenario. In the past, users sometimes disconnected from the content area and thought that it meant they were no longer connected to Chrome, which could cause problems on a shared device. 3 /
– Adrienne Porter Felt (@__apf__) September 24, 2018
Felt described a scenario in which a person using a shared computer disconnects from a Google service such as Gmail and believes that she has also disconnected from Chrome. If they have not done so, the next user can have access to their data stored in the browser.
Felt also notes that a user's automatic login to Chrome does not mean that their personal data is automatically shared with Google. To do this, Chrome Sync must be enabled separately.
But critics say it's not enough. Matthew Green, a cryptographer and professor at Johns Hopkins University, was one of the first to discuss the problem in a blog article published this weekend. Green explains that although Chrome Sync is not automatically enabled, the final effect is to push users to share more data.
"This change has huge implications for the privacy and trust of users, and Google seems unable to tackle it," Green writes.
I am also annoyed by the people who say "these are all your navigation data, so what's the problem?"
– Matthew Green (@matthew_d_green) September 22, 2018
This, says Green, is due to the fact that the option to enable Chrome Sync is a "dark model" – a term referring to the user interface tricks used by websites and applications to encourage people to take certain actions. By automatically registering users in Google Chrome, Google has removed some of the friction associated with sharing their data.
You can see the new Chrome Sync user interface in Green's blog post, but as he describes it: "Google has turned the issue of consent to data download from something. affirmative I had to make an effort to grab my Google credentials and log into Google Chrome in something that I can now do with one accidental click. It's a dark pattern.
For some people, these complaints may seem small or obvious. ("Good, of course Google wants to collect more data. It's Google! But, as Green and others have pointed out, this is a larger process of Chrome changes that disables its user base.
When Google introduced its browser for the first time, it upset the whole market. It broke Microsoft's dominance, promoted open-source standards and pushed the industry as a whole to improve its game. Changes like this are nonetheless useful to critics who claim that Google is slowly converting Chrome to a new one. platform neutral in a solution designed to push people to Google services and how to Google.
Others may not agree or simply accept that Chrome is Google's browser and ultimately the company can do what it wants with it. There are ways to disable the automatic login process, and for those who, like Green, have enough, there are always other options.
[ad_2]
Source link
