Do You Know What Your Mobile Browser Knows About You?
Popular mobile web browsers collect more data than you think. Mobile browsers — especially the phone and tablet versions of Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge — collect a surprising amount of data from users. Depending on the phone OS you use, the browser you choose, and the settings on your device, you might be giving the browser maker an uncomfortable level of access to your life and your business. As usual, staying informed is key: once you know what’s happening behind the scenes, you can make informed decisions about your risk comfort level. What Do Mobile Browsers Collect? There’s the usual suspects: browsing history, saved passwords, and probably some form of payment details. No surprise here — you expect mobile browsers to retain details like these for convenience’s sake and to power capabilities we all rely on. But recent research found that some browsers collect a lot more than that. Your phone likely already knows everywhere you’ve been, and some browsers happil...