Is your phone your friend or foe?
Chrome syncs your browsing history, search queries and bookmarks with your Google account. Google uses this data to build advertising profiles.
While Google has phased out traditional third-party cookies, it has simultaneously introduced a new method called Topics that categorizes your browsing behavior locally on your device and shares those interest categories with advertisers. Most users never notice.- Firefox has blocked third-party tracking cookies by default since version 86 with its “Total Cookie Protection.” Firefox sends no usage data to advertisers. Mozilla is funded largely through its default search engine deal with Google – an awkward situation, but not a privacy problem.
- Edge sends telemetry data to Microsoft, including diagnostic data and usage statistics. In the default settings, “optional” diagnostic data sharing is turned on. Microsoft offers tracking protection in three tiers – the default “Balanced” setting is a reasonable compromise.
- Brave blocks ads, trackers and fingerprinting attempts by default. The browser collects no usage data and sends nothing to central servers. The optional “Brave Rewards” program shows its own ads and pays users in cryptocurrency – but you don’t have to enable it.