In 2016, the EU ratified the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a sweeping (and complicated ) set of guidelines that reflected a new, serious approach to data privacy. In 2013, Edward Snowden’s disclosures highlighted the links between massive, surreptitious corporate surveillance and the NSA’s spy programs. At the same time, the public has become increasingly concerned about privacy online. It now accounts for 60% of the browsers on the web. Since Chrome’s introduction in 2008, its market share has risen inexorably. If the massive data collection appetite of Google’s advertising- and tracking-based business model are incentivizing Chrome to act in Google’s best interest instead of yours, that’s a big problem-one that consumers and regulators should not ignore. It’s supposed to be the thing that acts on your behalf in cyberspace. In the documents that define how the Web works, a browser is called a user agent. But Google still builds Chrome as if it needs to vacuum up everything it can about your online activities, whether you want it to or not. The marginal benefit of each additional bit of information about your activities online is relatively small to an advertiser, especially given how much you directly give Google through your searches and use of tools like Google Home. So why is Chrome so far behind? It’s because Google still makes most of its money from tracker-driven, behaviorally-targeted ads.
Users are more aware of, and concerned about, the harms of pervasive tracking than ever before. But when it comes to privacy, specifically protecting users from tracking, most of its rivals leave it in the dust. Chrome routinely leads the pack in features for security and usability, most recently helping to drive the adoption of HTTPS.
Google Chrome is the most popular browser in the world.
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