A nascent web API called getInstalledRelatedApps for app detection offers a glimpse of why online privacy remains such an uncertain proposition. In development since 2015, Google has been experimenting with the API since the release of Chrome 59 in 2017. As its name suggests, it is designed to let web apps and sites determine whether a corresponding native app is installed on a user’s...
A recent Chrome update has been causing issues for some. For the past few days, video editors have been panicking as a data corruption issue struck their Macs (typically 2013 Mac Pros), preventing them from rebooting their systems properly. But what was the cause? Their Avid Media Composer editing suite? MacOS itself? No — it turns out their browser was likely to blame. Google...
Your web browser should never act as surveillance software. Unfortunately Google Chrome’s surveillance methods make it highly insecure by allowing trackers to follow you around the web. Over a recent week of Web surfing, I peered under the hood of Google Chrome and found it brought along a few thousand friends. Shopping, news and even government sites quietly tagged my browser to let ad...
Google gives Chrome users reasons to switch to Firefox. Google is planning to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users only, according to 9to5Google. This is despite a backlash to an announcement by Google in January proposing changes that will stop current ad blockers from working efficiently. And the software giant is not backing down: It says the only people that can use...
Google security officials are advising Windows users to ensure they’re using the latest version 10 of the Microsoft operating system to protect themselves against a “serious” unpatched vulnerability that attackers have been actively exploiting in the wild. Unidentified attackers have been combining an exploit for the unpatched local privilege escalation in Windows with one for a separate security flaw in the Chrome browser that...
Google is urging users to update Chrome across all platforms after a critical vulnerability was discovered and patched. The vulnerability exploits a security flaw known as CVE-2019-5786. The security flaw is a memory management issue in Chrome’s FileReader which gives hackers the opportunity to inject and execute malicious code. Security researchers at Google and Microsoft have observed attackers using a combination of a patched...
Google engineers have proposed changes to the open-source Chromium browser that will break content-blocking extensions, including various ad blockers. Adblock Plus will most likely not be affected, though similar third-party plugins will, for reasons we will explain. The drafted changes will also limit the capabilities available to extension developers, ostensibly for the sake of speed and safety. Chromium forms the central core of Google...
Google is finally getting serious about blocking annoying autoplaying videos that start with the sound blaring. The next update to Chrome (version 66) will include changes to autoplay videos that mean the browser will only play them automatically if the sound isn’t playing by default, or if you click and interact with the site, or have previously “shown an interest in media on the...
Starting in July, Google Chrome will mark all HTTP sites as “not secure,” according to a blog post published today by Chrome security product manager Emily Schechter. Chrome currently displays a neutral information icon, but starting with version 68, the browser will warn users with an extra notification in the address bar. Chrome currently marks HTTPS-encrypted sites with a green lock icon and “Secure”...
Google today announced Chrome is going to war with autoplay. Starting next year, Chrome will only autoplay a given piece of content when the media won’t play sound or the user has indicated an interest in the media. Not all users have the same preferences for autoplay media, so Google has looked at letting users mute and unmute entire websites — we first heard...
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