New Chrome browser has built-in mass surveillance tool

[Teacher]

Chrome 94 developers have implemented a new Idle Detection API feature that allows sites to collect huge amounts of user data. Competitors have already called it spyware and called for an end to its use. It is possible to disable the spy module in Chrome 94, but there is no guarantee that Google will not deprive users of this opportunity in the next updates, writes CNews.

The new feature allows websites to "ask" Chrome to notify them when the user is idle. All modern sites can use this feature. In other words, Chrome will gladly notify them if the user stops using programs and leaves the computer. Mozilla has been the most critical critic of this feature. The developers of the competitive browser cited "surveillance capabilities" and the fact that a malicious site could use an API to maximize the computing power of a device without the user's consent or knowledge.

Mozilla's Web Standards Lead Tantek Celik suggested flagging the API as harmful and "encouraging its incubation, perhaps rethinking simpler, less invasive alternative approaches to identify motivating use cases."

In a similar vein, the WebKit development team - Apple's Safari browser engine - spoke up, saying, “It doesn't seem like a compelling enough use case for this API. First, there is no guarantee that the user will not immediately return to the device. Also, which service should know which other device the user can use at any given moment? We are definitely not going to tell the website about all devices that a given user may be using at any time. This is a very serious violation of the privacy of the specified user."

Vadim Misbakh-Solovyov, a technical specialist at RosKomSvoboda, believes that:

“This is indeed a potentially privacy-threatening feature that can be disabled for now and which Chrome is asking about for now. But nobody really bothers Google to do anything with the browser - for example, in the next releases, quietly activate it, remove the option to disable it, remove requests. "

“Another thing is that Mozilla and their Fox are no better at all - they can also remotely control browsers, and they also built privacy-violating features. True, they are not so brazenly violating, but still, ”the expert sums up.

In Chrome 94 it is possible to get rid of the Idle Detection API once and for all, without having to repeatedly click on the "Deny" button in pop-up notifications, writes CNews. However, it is unknown if Google will keep this option in the next versions of its browser. To disable the Idle Detection API, you need to launch Chrome, previously updated to version 94, and go to the address "chrome: // settings / content / idleDetection" without quotes. On the page that opens, you can make sure that the function is enabled by default, and at the same time deactivate it. To do this, select the "Don't allow sites to know when you're actively using your device" option.

After that, the user will deprive the sites of another opportunity to spy on him. However, it is worth checking periodically to see if this feature has been activated again, for example, after installing an update. It's worth noting that the Idle Detection API can be used in third-party Chrome-based browsers.