Privacy

Privacy Comparison

A comparison of browser privacy (Sandcat versus Chrome):

Installation ID

From Google’s release, Google Chrome and Privacy, “…a randomly generated token is included with Google Chrome’s installer. This token is sent to Google during the installation process to confirm the success of that particular installation…and is deleted once Google Chrome runs and checks for updates the first time.” [1].

Google Suggest

If you are typing a search or URL in the address bar, Google Chrome will talk to the current search service to try to offer useful query/url suggestions [2].

Alternative 404 Page

From Chrome’s support pages, “Google Chrome can show suggestions for the page you were trying to reach, if it is unable to connect to the web address. Instead of a cryptic error message, you’ll see suggestions to navigate to other parts of the website or to search for the page with Google.” [3]

RLZ Promotional Tag

This is an open source add-on for vendors, developers and manufacturers to include in shipments of Chrome to track its distribution through certain campaign pathways. [4]

Client ID

The client ID is used as an identifier for submitted user metrics. Currently, the client ID is not generated by Google Chrome unless the user opts in to submitting crash reports and user statistics. [5]

Google Updater

From Chrome’s support pages, “To make sure that you’re protected by the latest security updates, Google Chrome automatically updates whenever it detects that a new version of the browser is available. The update process happens in the background and doesn’t require any action on your part.”

Google Chrome checks for automatic updates every 25 hours. [6].

URL Tracker

This Google Chrome feature determines where you are geographically when requesting a Google page so it can return your request using google.com or google.co.uk or google.au, etc. From Chrome’s support pages, “…if you use Google as your default search engine from the omnibox (address bar) and you visit a foreign country, Google Web Search will instruct Chrome to use a different country-specific search site.” [7]

* Google Chrome and Google are registered trademarks of Google Inc.

Page last modified on August 04, 2013, at 11:59 PM
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