Edge sends your browsing history to Microsoft in a non-anonymous way
The big names in the tech industry are always blamed for privacy violations. Recently, Twitter user @scriptjunkie spotted that Microsoft keeps track of all the websites that you visited by using Microsoft Edge browser.
Surprisingly, the details are sent on your specific account ID, so this is done in a very non-anonymous way.
? Edge apparently sends the full URL of pages you visit (minus a few popular sites) to Microsoft. And, in contrast to documentation, includes your very non-anonymous account ID (SID). pic.twitter.com/zHMLUGwo9w
— scriptjunkie (@scriptjunkie1) July 19, 2019
This thing was pretty surprising as many people think that their browsing history remains anonymous.
He further confirmed that Safari, Chrome, and Firefox do not store the browsing history on the cloud. All of these browsers are safe for browsing because they only send hashed URLs to the cloud.
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Many people criticized Microsoft for sneaking into their browsing history. They think that Microsoft is simply trying to legalize these bad practices.
As a matter of fact, Microsoft has been involved in such bad practices in the past and they never bother to inform their users.
The company really needs to understand the importance of user consent.
Redditors think that Microsoft is now following on Google’s footsteps.
No one should be surprised by this. Microsoft is Google, just with a price tag attached. (Google services are usually free of charge because they mine your data and target you with ads; Microsoft has discovered the concept of double-dipping and has now joined the party, while still charging for Windows.)
Microsoft hides offline PC user account option
On top of that, some Windows users highlighted the fact that Microsoft is deliberately forcing its users to sign into their systems with a Microsoft account.
They are discouraging users to use the offline PC user account option. Microsoft is trying its best to hide the option in the recent Windows Insider builds.
Windows users are tired of the system notifications that suggests them to log into their Microsoft accounts. The major decision behind this change is that the company wants to keep an eye on your activities.
The Reddit thread suggests that many people are actually planning to switch to Linux or Mac.
Some people actually defended Microsoft and stated that all browsers collect telemetry data to improve their services.
There is an unfathomable amount of data coming in each day on edge, and if Microsoft wants to know which sites are causing issues for their browser, I don’t really care or blame them. They more often than not probably throw away the data very soon after getting it too.
It remains to be seen that if the new Chromium Edge follows the same technique. We hope that Microsoft takes care of these issues before the new browser version lands on the market.
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