Browsers and Privacy

Security and privacy, they’re pretty similar but essentially they are different aren’t they? I mean, let’s start off by thinking about your home. The security is provided by alarms, door and window locks, but the privacy is provided by the blinds and curtains to stop people from peering through the window into your private life. It’s pretty much the same in the world of computers really. Security is there to protect you from viruses, phishing, malware and other attacks, while privacy features are also needed in order to keep your browsing activities private and confidential.

Right, let’s look at privacy a little more closely, using a completely different example. If you’re a keep fit fanatic who likes to run daily, you might take a GPS device with you in order to track your runs, essentially creating a diary of data on the device – you’ll be able to see at a glance a record of where you went running, how far it was, how fast you ran and how many calories were burned in the process. Well, when you’re browsing the web you’re generating the same sort of thing on your computer, – information on the sites which you have visited, the cookies which were sent from it and which files (if any) you downloaded. Browsers can store and remember passwords for you too, if you ask them to.

Clearing Browser Data

One thing which you may not have realized is that you can get rid of all of this data from the computer any time you want to. It’s easy too, just take a look at a browsers preferences or options menu – not all browsers are the same. Some of the newest modern browsers even have the capacity for you to be in “private” mode, or “incognito” (sounds much more exciting doesn’t it)? If you go into incognito mode in Chrome, none of the web pages you view will ever get into your browsing history, and all of the cookies from the windows you opened will be deleted when you close your incognito windows. This is particularly useful if you often share a computer with others, or when working on a computer in an internet cafe or library.

These different privacy features give you much more control over any browsing data which is local to your computer or the information which your browser has sent to a website, but it cannot control any data which these websites hold about you, any information which you have previously submitted for example, is not affected.

You can, however, block some of the data which websites receive each time you visit them. Most of the modern browsers allow you to control your own privacy preferences site by site, so that you can decide about any specific data such as plugins, cookies and JavaSCript. You can, for example, set up certain rules which will only allow cookies from a special list of trusted sites, and block any cookies from sites which are not on the list.

Privacy Controls in the Browser

One problem is trying to maintain a balance between efficiency and privacy. If you frequently visit a website the cookie will be able to keep you logged in, for example, remember what you have bought previously and really help to save time on future visits based on past experience. This also means, though, that the website is remembering information about your visits which you are not necessarily happy with. You do, however, have the option of blocking these cookies at any time, or deleting the cookies from your browser history periodically.