As per a recent study conducted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, it has been discovered that, nearly 84% of all web browsers aren’t that high on user privacy as the boast to be. The study explicitly indicates that, nearly all browsers leave behind a unique trace of use activity, due to as set of miscellaneous settings and configurations. This number jumps up to 94% when these browsers are given add ons such as the likes of Adobe Flash and Java.
This all new revelation as put a big question mark on the privacy of the users who entrust their browsing habits to the privacy protocols of the web browsers. This study also highlights the inability of the users to bypass these privacy infringement tactics, to ensure complete privacy of their browsing data. However, there are a few things that, the users can do to keep this information from being accessed by third parties. For starters, the users can disable the java script from the browsers they use. This would in turn result in decreasing the chances of the browsing data being seen by any other person or organization. Second, the user are encouraged to use software such as TorButton, that has been proven to stop such fingerprinting methods in their tracks.
More so, the web browsers in mobile devices such as Google Android powered handsets and Apple iPhone along with Apple iPad are also quite immune to these measures, mainly because, the Flash program, that is one of the main reasons for the collection of browser data isn’t supported by such devices, especially in the case of Apple products.
According to EFF,
“The best solution for web users may be to insist that new privacy protections be built into the browsers themselves.”
Via Media Memo
