Goodbye, Chrome: Google’s web browser has become spy software

[RV_]

I was a diehard Internet Explorer (IE) user and tried Firefox (FF) for a few months back around 2008 but it was slow from memory hogging so I went back to IE. Then they abandoned IE and forced us to go to Edge. I hated Edge and went back to FF as the Mozilla Foundation, the parent organization behind FF, has fixed the bulk of the memory use issues and now is actively promoting user privacy. Then they came out with FF Quantum, now I'm a diehard FF Quantum fan with all their tweaking over the past few years. Here's why:

Excerpt:

"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.

Lately I’ve been investigating the secret life of my data, running experiments to see what technology really gets up to under the cover of privacy policies that nobody reads. It turns out, having the world’s biggest advertising company make the most popular Web browser was about as smart as letting kids run a candy shop.

It made me decide to ditch Chrome for a new version of nonprofit Mozilla’s Firefox, which has default privacy protections. Switching involved less inconvenience than you might imagine."

This article is very good and even includes a video of how Chrome follows us, which is worth a look for the non techies here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/06/21/google-chrome-has-become-surveillance-software-its-time-switch/?utm_term=.d16bf3e865d8

 

Many folks have given up and just go all Google Chrome. Others, like my wife who does not do anything but surf with Edge love/s Edge? Microsoft has decided to use the Chrome engine for Edge, and it is getting better too, but the full implementation of the Chrome engine in Microsoft Edge is not fully implemented yet and AFAIK still in beta. If it is as intrusive then my wife will transition to FF. We both use Nord VPN daily. YouTube actually comes on with a message that I can't watch videos anonymously (when the VPN is switched on) and that I will be tracked from that point on. They complain that they don't know who I am - Great! There goes another time waster no more YouTube except when I need it. I've more content than I can ever watch anyway with Sling TV, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and HBO, Netflix, Pluto TV, and a few other streaming free services, as well as a rooftop antenna with the best consumer usable whole house amplifier, the Electroline which is in use at both our old home, and which I ordered and came in at my new home awaiting my return to Colorado Springs. It gives more than 22 channels here. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001222256/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Our new house has an antenna and three outputs with no amp - fixed as soon as I get back. Anyway, YouTube is no loss, and my default search engine on FF Quantum is Duck Duck Go.

Excerpt:

"Microsoft is announcing some significant changes to its Edge browser today. The software giant is beginning to rebuild Microsoft Edge to run on Chromium, the same open-source web rendering engine that powers Google’s Chrome browser. This means Edge will soon be powered by Blink and the V8 JavaScript engines. It’s a big move that means Microsoft is joining the open-source community in a much bigger way for the web.

“Ultimately, we want to make the web-experience better for many different audiences,” explains Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president of Windows. “People using Microsoft Edge (and potentially other browsers) will experience improved compatibility with all web sites, while getting the best-possible battery life and hardware integration on all kinds of Windows devices.”

Microsoft Edge isn’t going away, nor is the brand name. If you already use Edge on Windows, then that won’t change. All you’ll ultimately notice is that websites will render more consistently once Microsoft makes this under-the-hood change."

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/6/18128648/microsoft-edge-chrome-chromium-browser-changes

 

Here's an article written in March 2019 just as FF was tweaking their then just released Firefox Quantum. The author puts Chrome ahead of FF, but just barely, here's why:

Excerpt:,

"Firefox comes in a close second — a very close second. Mozilla has been taking real strides in making its browser a truly modern way to surf from site to site, thanks to efforts like its recent upgrade to Firefox Quantum and the VR-focused alternative, Firefox Reality. The latest version of Mozilla’s familiar old standby rebuilds the browser’s UI from the ground up, offering a cleaner, more modern take on what a web browser should be, and even introducing a password-free browsing experience.

The changes aren’t just skin deep, though. There’s some impressive engineering going on behind the scenes. Firefox Quantum is designed to leverage multicore processors in ways that its competitors just aren’t doing. It’s not going to make a huge difference in your day-to-day browsing, but the Mozilla Corporation hopes it’s going to give it an edge moving forward. By engineering for the future now, Firefox Quantum is in a better position to take advantage of quicker and quicker processors as they come out year after year.

Beneath those changes, it’s still the same Firefox we all know and love. It’s a capable browser, with a deep catalog of extensions and user interface customization. The new Firefox Mobile app also received the Quantum treatment, so it’s quicker and more streamlined than ever before. Grab the mobile Firefox app and you’ll be able to share bookmarks between devices, but you’ll have to sign up for a separate Firefox account. Unfortunately, managing settings across platforms isn’t as seamless as it is in Chrome.

Even with the recent overhaul, Firefox is a comfortable, familiar standby. There’s a bit of a fringe benefit, too. Because it’s been around longer than Chrome, some older web apps — the likes of which you might encounter at your university or workplace — work better on Firefox than they do on Chrome. For that reason, it never hurts to keep it around.

As a primary browser, Firefox doesn’t offer much that Chrome doesn’t, but its latest update is making it a very compelling alternative if you’re in the mood for something a little different."

Source: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/best-browser-internet-explorer-vs-chrome-vs-firefox-vs-safari-vs-edge/

So we choose FFQuantum, and DuckDuckGo for searches, your choices may be different, or some might not care, regardless, choices are good.

Edited June 22, 2019 by RV_

[chirakawa]

I used Firefox for many years until last month.  After an upgrade, Adblock no longer works.  They disabled it.  So, now in Firefox I get lot's of ads on nearly every site I visit.  Any advice?

I've been using Chrome for the past month but don't really care for it.  It doesn't have nearly as many option/features as Firefox.

[dirtyboots]

I'm not technical like you guys, but I've been using Opera for a long time.  My combo is Opera and DuckDuckGo.

[RV_]

Chirakawa,

I had it stop working a couple of months ago too. Then went to the Adblock plus and downloaded the new version for Firefox and voila' it's back. Go here  https://adblockplus.org/

Donna,

That's a good combo too if it does what you want. The key here is what you want. We all tend to stick with what we know.

[GlennWest]

I have a Chromebook so. Chrome it is

[chirakawa]

10 hours ago, RV_ said:

 

I had it stop working a couple of months ago too. Then went to the Adblock plus and downloaded the new version for Firefox and voila' it's back. Go here  https://adblockplus.org/

 

Thanks.  I used your link to try and install Adblock again.  It went through the entire process, then said it couldn't install it because Firefox could not modify the file.

On FF website, it says that in order to use Adblock or other unapproved add-ons, you have to click on the add-on and then give it permission.  When I click on the add-on Adblock, it doesn't bring up another page or do anything else.

[RV_]

Here is a screen capture from my Firefox extensions page just now:

I use a fully updated version of FF. Check for updates and see if you can find it via FFs extensions page.

[chirakawa]

1 hour ago, RV_ said:

Here is a screen capture from my Firefox extensions page just now:

I use a fully updated version of FF. Check for updates and see if you can find it via FFs extensions page.

I'm using 67.0.4  Actually, I got it to install after several more tries.  Then, I went in and turned on using Adblock in a private window (which I never use).  It still wouldn't block ads in a regular window.  Then, I went back and unchecked the private window part.  Now, it blocks ads again.  Good deal, I didn't like Chrome.

Thanks for the help.

[GlennWest]

I have zip problems with my Chromebook. So much faster than my laptop with Windows. 

[SnowGypsy]

It would be hard for me to believe any of them aren't finding a way to exploit their customers.  I have a Toshiba Chromebook.  If they want to follow me around the net, well, they will get bored of it pretty quick.  I have noticed that if I am looking around a shopping website, that website with ads end up in the margin of another page of a different website.  The government has its nose so far in our business since 9/11 that I have given up on a way to keep them out of my business.  It all makes me glad that I am not young and facing the future ahead. 

[RV_]

You're welcome Chirakawa. Sometimes they take a few tries. Try Nord VPN if you want to take it a step further. I paid for three years in advance for ~ $2 a month. It's great. It can be loaded on as many devices I want and the limit at the same time is six devices using it simultaneously. It is on our Android phones and Windows All in Ones, as well as our windows tablets, and two backup machines. I love having Google bitch about how I can't be anonymous do they are going to have to track me. So I work from Europe for awhile just to screw with them.

 

[RV_]

You're lucky, it seems other Chromebook owners have had issues:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=chromebooks+problems&t=ffab&atb=v172-3_j&ia=web

Google just announced they also gave up on their tablet line, even canceling the new product orders.

https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/06/20/ipad-wins-again-google-cancels-upcoming-tablet-products

We're from Google and we're here to help you.

http://

 

 

Edited June 24, 2019 by RV_

[chirakawa]

8 hours ago, RV_ said:

You're welcome Chirakawa. Sometimes they take a few tries. Try Nord VPN if you want to take it a step further. I paid for three years in advance for ~ $2 a month. It's great. It can be loaded on as many devices I want and the limit at the same time is six devices using it simultaneously. It is on our Android phones and Windows All in Ones, as well as our windows tablets, and two backup machines. I love having Google bitch about how I can't be anonymous do they are going to have to track me. So I work from Europe for awhile just to screw with them.

 

I've been using Windscribe vpn for a couple of years.  I paid $30 for lifetime.  So far, it has worked out pretty well.  They are constantly adding new servers and growing.  Every time I change servers I get an alert from my mail service saying someone has tried to sign in to my email account.  I just have to let them know it was really myself.

[Pieere]

On 6/22/2019 at 11:07 PM, dirtyboots said:

I'm not technical like you guys, but I've been using Opera for a long time.  My combo is Opera and DuckDuckGo.

Ditto! For about the last 4+ years and I have had very good luck!

[GlennWest]

Duckduckgo would not let me post a picture on here last night. Had to use edge

[Carlos]

If you use any Google products, you're being spied on.  You are the product to be sold to advertisers.  You should see what Androids and even Chromebooks are sending home.  The most effective product I've found to block this is uBlock Origin, and very soon, that will stop working in Chrome because Google is going to remove the API it uses.  Too effective I suppose.

VPNs do almost nothing to anonymize you.  They just conceal an IP address which is pretty much meaningless.  Chrome is fingerprinted via other mechanisms which survive a VPN trip, just like they survive you traveling across the country.  Remember that all a VPN does is put you in another place electronically rather than physically.  They have nearly no value today, other than pirating things or gaining access to country-restricted content.

To me, ad blocking is much more about the amount of junk on pages, battery life, and CPU usage.  I've never clicked on an ad in my life, and expect I never will.  I don't want to see them, or wait for them to load.  I don't want them in the way of real content.

Edited June 24, 2019 by Carlos

[GlennWest]

Sorry, but I think yall over reacting to this. All my years of pc, chrome book, Androids I have never had a virus or a problem other than the units eventually dying.

[Carlos]

Nobody here is talking about viruses.  Are you in the wrong thread?

[GlennWest]

I said other problems also. Just included virus. 

[Carlos]

What does that have to do with privacy, security, and advertising?

 

[GlennWest]

It doesn't bother me for someone using my internet for advertising. I don't go on line anywhere I am ashamsed of. Only issuse I have had with security is Debit Cards and that was not because of being on line. 

[Carlos]

I'm happy to show you where I've been online, including my favorite porn sites.  I'm just not happy at all when I see ads.  And others may have different standards of privacy, which you should acknowledge is just their choice.  Personally I don't care all that much about the ad data sharing, but think people should be aware and make their own choices.  I just don't want to see the ads or have them sent over my sometimes limited bandwidth.

 

[GlennWest]

I don't see a lot of adds. Now if I go on a forum and not be signed in I see them. 

[D&J]

I down loaded Brave from the Play store a few months ago on my phone, tablet and Chromebook and it block all adds and trackers.

Denny 

[RV_]

https://vpnspecial.com/reviews/nordvpn/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=APD_BING - Search - Brand - Nordvpn bmm - US - english %2B all lang&utm_content=%2Bnordvpn&msclkid=0095107502471e9e8ba84d6493131fa5&gclid=CO_a5IXVg-MCFQSJxQId4DEI6w&gclsrc=ds