Different user interfaces, scores of features, and operating systems – the open nature of the internet has made multiple browsers co-exist and thrive. The different cyberspace softwares, however, have made the choice tougher for the end-user, leading to ‘browser wars’ – the dominance of one browser over another – through aggressive technological innovation and marketing.
One of the most notable shifts in recent times was users mass-migrating from Microsoft's Internet Explorer to Google Chrome. With a 65% market share, Chrome supersedes its closest competitor Apple’s Safari by 20%. Despite numerous security concerns and privacy threats, Google Chrome had an estimated 3.2 billion internet users worldwide as of last year. The search engine has wielded much power and continues to do so. But experts say it’s time to switch.
No more cookies, please
The integration of a data gathering infrastructure – services such as Google search and Gmail – have set a new standard for markets across the web. Privacy campaigners and rival browser makers have fought against the tech giants to end the saga of third-party cookies and trackers implemented on the users.
In a blog post in July this year, Google announced pushing its plan to get rid of third-party cookies in Chrome to the later half of 2024. This was the second time the search giant pushed back its timeline as it needed more time for testing and ensuring users’ online privacy.
Google had planned to replace cookies with a ‘privacy preserving’ tracking tech called FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts) that consists of computer code designed to deliver interest-based ads without issues of privacy concerns on cookie-based ad technology. However, the tech giant recently announced that a new tracking system called Topics will replace the previous FLoC system to replace cookies, sparking new confusion and criticism across the tech industries and users.
MIT students Alex Berke and Dan Calacci argue that FLoC failed to provide and lacked the key advertised ingredient – privacy. Their analysis indicated that FLoC's privacy problems were what led the search giant to trade FLoC for the Topics API.
"Google cancelled FLoC in favour of a new approach (Topics), which is a more privacy-preserving step in the direction towards advertising based on contextual content," reads the paper. "However, like FLoC, it is still premised on tracking users' browsing behaviours and future work will need to demonstrate that this new approach goes far enough to preserve user privacy.”
Stop slurping my data!
Google Chrome’s hefty data collection practices are one of the reasons experts recommend switching from the browser. According to Apple’s iOS privacy labels, the app is claimed to collect data that includes user location, search and browsing history, along with product interaction data for “personalisation” purposes. The tech giant states that data collection gives users the ability to access options that provide passwords to your Google Account and to save your bookmarks. But unlike its rivals, Chrome links this data to devices and individuals.
Source: Twitter
Various experts have given their suggestions on moving away from the browser. One such instance is web comic curated by digital rights activist and comic artist Leah Elliott who meticulously rearranges Scott McCloud’s Google-commissioned Chrome comic from 2008.
Source: Contra Chrome
A recent report by Atlas VPN shows that Google Chrome was the most vulnerable browser in the market in 2022. It has an estimated 303 vulnerabilities totaling to a number of 3,159.
Source: Atlas VPN
The figures are based on data collected from the VulDB vulnerability database, covering from January 1, 2022 to October 5, 2022. Mozilla Firefox stands second with 117, whereas Microsoft Edge had 103 vulnerabilities as of October 5, 61% more than the entire year of 2021. Safari had some of the lowest levels of vulnerabilities of 26 in the first three quarters of this year.
Rowenna Fielding, founder at Miss IG Geek says, “Google is watching everything you do online, all the time. This allows Google to build up a detailed and sophisticated picture about your personality, interests, vulnerabilities and triggers.”
Pool of alternative browsers
New web technologies and proposed changes may favour Google's advertising business more than improving internet use for users. One such example is the introduction of Manifest V3.
Google's stronghold on Chromium development, has led Chromium browsers to face a tough decision on whether to follow Google's lead and drop support for Manifest V2.
Another example is Microsoft’s Edge browser, which seems to support Manifest V3. Moreover, there are plenty of Chromium-based browsers that offer more than what Chrome does. Brave has a good content blocker, whereas Vivaldi offers plenty of integrated customizations. Opera maintains an interface focused on gaming.
Discussions around alternatives browsers was also seen on a Reddit thread.
Source: Reddit
For non-Chromium browsers there is Firefox, which relies on its own codebase and Safari, which is maintained by Apple. Experts claim that Manifest V2 extensions will continue to be supported for the foreseeable future, as Firefox will continue to support both Manifest V2 and Manifest V3.
The move can make it even more difficult to run content blockers and privacy extensions in Chrome. Some users might not notice the difference, but users who use multiple extensions and add custom filter lists may run into artificial limitations set by Google.
Google Chrome isn’t going anywhere. But if you do decide to switch from the browser, there are various other feature-rich privacy browser options like Mozilla Firefox, Brave and DuckDuckGo – which may not involve giving your data away.
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