An internal struggle over how people use the internet has ensued for several years, pitting tech titans against Madison Avenue advertisers and endangering smaller firms that rely on advertising as their digital survival.
This battle is shaping how people browse the web, as well as creating tools that put users’ privacy before Big Tech profits.
Firefox
Long thought to be Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser’s successor, its challenger has come in the form of Firefox – an offshoot of Netscape’s once popular browser with an army of followers raving about its benefits and features.
Tabbed browsing provides Web sites to open in separate browser windows rather than cluttering up the task bar with multiple windows; while its efficient interface saves system resources.
Another advantage of Firefox is that it is open source software, making its code freely accessible to any developer for independent analysis and modification. Although this might seem counterproductive at first, having thousands of people actively looking out for bugs helps quickly close security holes that may otherwise remain open. Furthermore, this browser is available both for iOS and Android devices.
Google Chrome
Google Chrome is a popular web browser developed by Google LLC and used by 66% of internet users worldwide. With an intuitive user experience available across platforms, Chrome remains popular choice.
Google’s browser is fast, reliable, and security is of utmost importance – rolling out updates regularly to protect against hackers. Plus, its autofill feature makes online shopping and form filling simpler by automatically filling in mailing address or credit card data for forms submitted online.
Chrome extensions (also known as web apps) enable you to customize the browser to meet your individual needs. For instance, adding a dictionary provides instant definition pop-up bubbles for words on websites or you could enable a tool that converts website text to audio files. Plus, Chrome’s incognito mode enables private browsing without Google tracking your browsing history, cookies or site data and its picture-in-picture mode makes watching videos or reading articles while multitasking on the computer more manageable.
Tor Browser
Tor’s dark web has gained notoriety as an illegal drugs marketplace, a platform for hacking experts to offer their services and hitmen to hire; but there are other legitimate uses of Tor browser. They include bypassing network security by connecting directly to sites on “onion” version of Internet; protecting personal data from cybercriminals, avoiding government surveillance and whistleblowing.
This browser, based on Mozilla Firefox and available for Windows, MacOS, GNU/Linux and Android platforms, conceals users by sending traffic through multiple randomly chosen relays and exit nodes that encrypt packets of data before forwarding them onward to websites and search engines without leaving any identifying markers behind.
Muffett points out that Tor’s anonymity can still be broken, but offers these recommendations: don’t store passwords on HTTP sites that can’t be encrypted (like websites that load quickly like YouTube) or email; avoid clicking images or videos; use Orfox a tool created by Tor that combines VPN technology for even greater protection;
