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Google Chrome is a popular web browser. The reason is much like the days of Internet Explorer — that is what is installed on many computers — for free — and that is what new users learn to use.
Chrome is developed by the Google folks, who are data mining and tracking experts. Nobody should be surprised that the default Chrome configuration is not privacy friendly. Collecting user data is what the Google people do. Chrome is just another conduit offered under the illusion of a free service in order to collect user data.
There are a few things users can do to reduce the privacy invasive footprint.
Chrome defaults to using the Google search engine. Two search engines that are more privacy friendly are startpage.com and duckduckgo.com.
Related to search engines is the prediction feature that tries to outguess what user’s are typing. This predictive feature is tied directly to the Google search engine and everything typed is sent to Google servers. To disable:
- Menu (the “hamburger” button)
- Settings
- Show Advanced Settings
- Use a prediction service to help complete searches and URLs typed in the address bar
Cookies are a notorious method of tracking users. Chrome supports various cookie options as well as a cookie whitelist. A sane privacy strategy is to disable all third party cookies. Another sane step is to allow cookies only for certain trusted web sites. This is known as creating a whitelist. Unless needed, cookies should be stored as session-only and not permanently. To configure cookies:
- Menu (the “hamburger” button)
- Settings
- Show Advanced Settings
- Privacy
- Content Settings
- Cookies
Chrome supports JavaScript whitelists. Look in the same Content Settings page. JavaScript is a well known vector for malware.
In this same Content Settings configuration section, controls are available for plugins, location, and notifications. Plugins should be set to Click to play. This also provides some security. Location tracking might be useful to a few people in limited circumstances, but for privacy this option should be disabled.
Usage statistics is another invasive component. To disable:
- Menu
- Settings
- Show Advanced Settings
- Privacy
- Automatically send usage statistics and crash reports to Google
Anybody using Google services, such as gmail or drive, are tied to the Google ecosystem where privacy does not exist. The Google privacy policy explicitly states that data will be shared across services used by each person. Chrome users who have a Google account have some additional work to reduce the privacy invasions. One option is to disable Location History. Everything a person does while logged into a Google account is tracked and recorded. Disabling Location History requires logging into the account online:
- My Account
- Personal info and privacy
- My Activity
- Activity Controls
- Location History
Other account information that might want to be disabled are Web History and App History.
When using a Google account to use Chrome, Chrome will sync data to the account. That feature can be disabled:
- Menu
- Settings
- Sign in
- Disconnect your Google Account
For those who want to use some parts of the sync service, be sure to encrypt the transmissions. Further fine tuning is available in Advanced Sync Settings -> Choose What To Sync.
One option to help with managing privacy related settings is a Chrome extension called Privacy Manager.
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