How your browser protects your privacy

If you’re concerned about privacy and want one of the most well-protected browsers available — and don’t mind that it may prevent you from using certain websites — then you should try the Tor Browser.

The name Tor stands for The Onion Routing, which was the original description of how the open-source browser anonymizes its users. As Tor’s site explains, it does this by encrypting your information and relaying it through Tor’s system of servers (called a circuit), so that your ISP can’t track your activity. Different tabs originating from the same website will all be loaded through the same circuit. 

Opera is not a newcomer to the browser wars; it’s been around as an alternative to the more well-known browsers since 1995. Opera blocks ads and trackers natively. In fact, when you first install it, the welcome screen gives you a chance to toggle the ad-blocker on immediately. The browser also offers a free VPN, which, according to the company, encrypts any data passing through public Wi-Fi and routes it through a remote server.

If you didn’t switch the tracking blocker on when you installed Opera, and you want to enable it now, you’ll have to switch it on manually. Luckily, it’s not difficult.

Vivaldi has an interesting history. The company behind it, Vivaldi Technologies, was founded by Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner, who was a co-founder of Opera Software. The browser is aimed at the more technologically savvy user, and as a result, it’s highly customizable.

Vivaldi offers a full explanation of its philosophy toward user privacy on the Privacy page in its About section. There, you can not only read about how it handles these issues on its browser, but also other issues such as what type of analytics it uses on its own websites and how it handles privacy issues in its community pages.

Brave, which came out of beta last fall, is a browser with a difference. Aggressively anti-advertising, the Chromium-based browser strips sites of their ads while allowing users to opt in to its own set of anonymized advertising. It is also very open in its promotion of user privacy.

Brave provides a wide range of security settings that can be tweaked, depending on your concerns and how you need to balance privacy versus convenience.

Version 80 of Microsoft’s Edge browser, now based on the Chromium source code, launched on January 15th, and with it came an increased focus on privacy.

Edge includes tools to block both first-party cookies (used to keep you logged in or remember the items in your shopping cart) and third-party tracking cookies (used to keep track of your browsing activity). Below are instructions on how to change your settings, see what trackers are stored on your browser, and delete any cookies. We also address how Edge deals with fingerprinting, another method of tracking which identifies users by collecting details about their system configuration.

If you’re a Mac user, then you have a copy of Safari on your computer — it’s the default browser for macOS. If you do use it, you’ll be happy to learn that, like other major browsers, Safari has been provided with a number of safeguards to enhance user privacy.

Tracking is a major threat to online privacy, and there are several different methods for tracking users, from first-party cookies (usually used to store your preferences) to third-party tracking cookies (which gather information about your online activity). There’s also fingerprinting, which involves collecting details about your system’s configuration to build an identifiable fingerprint used to track you across the web.

Google’s Chrome is, by most measures, the most popular browser in use. That being said, it also has a perception problem as far as security is concerned, causing privacy-concerned users to shake the Chrome habit. If you don’t have any intention of moving away from Chrome anytime soon, here are some tips to help you maximize your privacy.

Chrome has tools for blocking first-party cookies (which are used to store your preferences for a particular site) as well as third-party tracking cookies (which follow your online activity across sites). Some of these tools need to be enabled manually, and we’ve included instructions on how to do that, along with steps on how to delete cookies already stored by your browser. We also address how Google plans to prevent fingerprinting — a form of tracking that uses data about your system configuration to identify you.