browsing

Google Chrome’s Real-Time Implementation of Safe Browsing Protection

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Sharing URLs privatelyNow, if all of this sounds a bit familiar, then that’s likely because you are already familiar with the Safe Browsing Enhanced Mode. The privacy server removes potential user identifiers and forwards the encrypted hash prefixes to the Safe Browsing server via a TLS connection that mixes requests with many other Chrome users. The Safe Browsing server decrypts the hash prefixes and matches them against the server-side database, returning full hashes of all unsafe URLs that match one of the hash prefixes sent by Chrome. This server sits between Chrome and Safe Browsing and strips out any identifying information from the browser request. Thanks to all of this, Google’s Safe Browsing service should never see your IP address.

Avast Prohibited from Sharing Users’ Internet Activity with Advertisers

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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Thursday said it will ban the antivirus giant Avast from selling consumers’ web browsing data to advertisers after Avast claimed its products would prevent its users from online tracking. Avast also settled the federal regulator’s charges for $16.5 million, which the FTC said will provide redress for Avast’s users whose sensitive browsing data was improperly sold on to ad giants and data brokers. But the FTC alleged that Avast sold consumers’ browsing data through its now-shuttered subsidiary, Jumpshot, to more than a hundred other companies, making Avast tens of millions of dollars in revenue. The regulator said that the browsing data that Jumpshot sold revealed consumers’ religious beliefs, health concerns, political leanings, their location, and other sensitive information. The reports found Jumpshot was also selling access to its users’ click data, including the specific web links that its users were clicking on.

NSA’s Acquisition of American Citizens’ Internet History Without Authorization

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The U.S. National Security Agency is buying vast amounts of commercially available web browsing data on Americans without a warrant, according to the agency’s outgoing director. The NSA did not say from which providers it buys commercially available internet records. Previous reporting shows the Defense Intelligence Agency bought access to a commercial database containing Americans’ location data in 2021 without a warrant. A week later, the FTC brought similar action against InMarket, another data broker, saying the company did not obtain users’ explicit consent before collecting their location data, and banned the data broker from selling consumers’ precise location data. When reached by email, NSA spokesperson Eddie Bennett confirmed the NSA collects commercially available internet netflow data, but declined to clarify or comment on Nakasone’s remarks.