tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/google-chrome-126/articlesGoogle Chrome – The Conversation2023-11-22T17:05:13Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2165812023-11-22T17:05:13Z2023-11-22T17:05:13ZThe vast majority of us have no idea what the padlock icon on our internet browser is – and it’s putting us at risk<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559630/original/file-20231115-15-zfe1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=50%2C0%2C5568%2C3692&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The padlock icon which appears in most internet browser address bars. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/web-browser-closeup-on-lcd-screen-1353121223">Robert Avgustin/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Do you know what the padlock symbol in your internet browser’s address bar means? If not, you’re not alone. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10447318.2023.2266789">New research</a> by my colleagues and I shows that only 5% of UK adults understand the padlock’s significance. This is a threat to our online safety. </p>
<p>The padlock symbol on a web browser simply means that the data being sent between the web server and the user’s computer is encrypted and cannot be read by others. But when we asked people what they thought it meant, we received an array of incorrect answers.</p>
<p>In our study, we asked a cross section of 528 web users, aged between 18 and 86 years of age, a number of questions about the internet. Some 53% of them held a bachelor’s degree or above and 22% had a college certificate, while the remainder had no further education. </p>
<p>One of our questions was: “On the Google Chrome browser bar, do you know what the padlock icon represents/means?” </p>
<p>Of the 463 who responded, 63% stated they knew, or thought they knew, what the padlock symbol on their web browser meant, but only 7% gave the correct meaning. Respondents gave us a range of incorrect interpretations, believing among other things that the padlock signified a secure web page or that the website is safe and doesn’t contain any viruses or suspicious links. Others believed the symbol means a website is “trustworthy”, is not harmful, or is a “genuine” website. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A symbol of a circle next to a straight line over a straight line and a circle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559903/original/file-20231116-19-zm7pen.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559903/original/file-20231116-19-zm7pen.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559903/original/file-20231116-19-zm7pen.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559903/original/file-20231116-19-zm7pen.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559903/original/file-20231116-19-zm7pen.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559903/original/file-20231116-19-zm7pen.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559903/original/file-20231116-19-zm7pen.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Google’s new ‘tune icon’ which replaces the padlock icon in Chrome’s address bar.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://blog.chromium.org/2023/05/an-update-on-lock-icon.html">Google Chromium</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Not understanding symbols like the padlock icon, can pose problems to internet users. These include increased security risks and simply hindering effective use of the technology.</p>
<p>Our findings corroborate research by <a href="https://support.google.com/chrome/thread/222182314/the-lock-icon-replaced-with-a-tune-icon-in-the-google-chrome-address-bar?hl=en">Google</a> itself, who in September, replaced the padlock icon with a <a href="https://www.thesslstore.com/blog/google-to-replace-the-padlock-icon-in-chrome-version-117/#:%7E:text=But%20that's%20about%20to%20change,to%20have%20HTTPS%20by%20default.">neutral symbol</a> described as a “tune icon”. In doing so, Google hopes to eradicate the misunderstandings that the padlock icon has afforded. </p>
<p>However, Google’s update now raises the question as to whether other web browser companies will join forces to ensure their designs are uniform and intuitive across all platforms.</p>
<h2>Web browser evolution</h2>
<p>Without a doubt, the browser, which is our point of entry to the world wide web, comes with a lot of responsibility on the part of web companies. It’s how we now visit web pages, so the browser has become an integral part of our daily lives. </p>
<p>It’s intriguing to look back and trace the evolution of the web’s design from the early 1990s to where we are today. Creating software that people wanted to use and found effective was at the heart of this <a href="https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/human-computer-interaction">evolution</a>. The creation of functioning, satisfying, and most importantly, consistently designed user interfaces was an important goal in the 1990s. In fact, there was a drive in those early days to create web interface designs that were so consistent and intuitive that users would not need to think too much about how they work. </p>
<p>Nowadays, it’s a different story because the challenge is centred on helping people to think before they interact online. In light of this, it seems bizarre that the design of the web browser in 2023 still affords uncertainty through its design. Worse still, that it is inconsistently presented across its different providers. </p>
<p>It could be argued that this stems from the <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/09/browser-wars-netscape-internet-explorer.asp">browser wars</a> of the mid-1990s. That’s when the likes of Microsoft and former software company, Netscape, tried to outdo each other with faster, better and more unique products. The race to be distinct meant there was inconsistency between products. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LOWOLJci8d8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The rise and fall of Netscape and the browser wars of the 1990s.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Internet safety</h2>
<p>However, introducing distinct browser designs can lead to user confusion, misunderstanding and a false sense of security, especially when it is <a href="https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/principle-of-consistency-and-standards-in-user-interface-design">now widely known</a> that such inconsistency can breed confusion, and from that, frustration and lack of use. </p>
<p>As an expert in human-computer interaction, it is alarming to me that some browser companies continue to disregard <a href="https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/">established guidelines</a> for usability. In a world where web browsers open the doors to potentially greater societal risks than the offline world, it is crucial to establish a consistent approach for addressing these dangers. </p>
<p>As a minimum, we need web browser companies to join forces in a concerted effort to shield users, or at the very least, heighten their awareness regarding potential online risks. This should include formulating one unified design across the board that affords an enriched and safe user experience.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216581/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fiona Carroll does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The padlock symbol simply means that the data being sent between the web server and the user’s computer is encrypted and cannot be read by others. But many people don’t know that.Fiona Carroll, Reader in Human Computer Interaction, Cardiff Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2131502023-09-11T03:44:03Z2023-09-11T03:44:03ZGoogle Chrome just rolled out a new way to track you and serve ads. Here’s what you need to know<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547371/original/file-20230910-23-xd0q9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=155%2C319%2C4693%2C3317&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Yang/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Late last week, Google announced something called the Privacy Sandbox has been rolled out <a href="https://privacysandbox.com/intl/en_us/news/privacy-sandbox-for-the-web-reaches-general-availability">to a “majority” of Chrome users</a>, and will reach 100% of users in the coming months. But what is it, exactly? </p>
<p>The new suite of features represents a fundamental shift in how Chrome will track user data for the benefit of advertisers. Instead of third-party cookies, Chrome can now tap directly into your browsing history to gather information on advertising “topics” (more on that later).</p>
<p>In development since 2019, this change has attracted <a href="https://gizmodo.com/google-privacy-sandbox-now-on-every-chrome-browser-1850812404">a great deal of controversy</a>, as some commentators have deemed it <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/09/googles-widely-opposed-ad-platform-the-privacy-sandbox-launches-in-chrome/">invasive in terms of privacy</a>.</p>
<p>Understanding how it works – and whether you want to opt in or out – is important, since Chrome remains the most widely used browser in the world, with a 63% market share <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/268254/market-share-of-internet-browsers-worldwide-since-2009/">as of May 2023</a> (Safari is in second place with 13%).</p>
<h2>Wait, what is a cookie?</h2>
<p>In 1994, computer engineer Lou Montulli at Netscape revolutionised the way we browsed the internet with his <a href="https://montulli.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-reasoning-behind-web-cookies.html">invention of the “cookie</a>”. For the first time, web pages could remember our passwords, preferences, language settings and even shopping carts.</p>
<p>This method was supposed to be a private exchange of information just between a user and a website – what’s known as a first-party cookie. But within two years, advertisers worked out how to “hack” cookies <a href="https://qz.com/2000350/the-inventor-of-the-digital-cookie-has-some-regrets">to track users</a>. These are third-party cookies.</p>
<p>You can think of a first-party cookie like a shop assistant who listens to your preferences and is happy to hold your bags or clothes while you make your selection – but only while you are inside their store.</p>
<p>A third-party cookie is like a bug from an old spy movie. It listens to everything in your room, but only shares the info with its allies. The “spy” can place this cookie on other people’s sites, to record what you visit and what data you enter. If you’ve ever wondered how Facebook has served you an ad about something related to a news story you just read, chances are it’s because you have third-party cookies enabled.</p>
<p>Unregulated online tracking and surveillance via cookies were the default until 2018, when the European Union’s <a href="https://gdpr.eu/what-is-gdpr/">General Data Protection Regulations</a> (GDPR) and the <a href="https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa">California Consumer Privacy Act</a> (CCPA) were introduced. If you have noticed more pop-ups notifying you of cookies and asking for your informed consent, you have the GDPR and CCPA to thank.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cookies-i-looked-at-50-well-known-websites-and-most-are-gathering-our-data-illegally-176203">Cookies: I looked at 50 well-known websites and most are gathering our data illegally</a>
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<p>The <a href="https://clearcode.cc/blog/third-party-cookies-demise/#safari-and-firefox-turn-off-support-for-third-party-cookies">first browsers</a> to turn off support for third-party cookies were Apple’s Safari in 2017 and Mozilla’s Firefox in 2019.</p>
<p>But Google is also a major online advertising company, with ads <a href="https://www.doofinder.com/en/statistics/google-revenue-breakdown">making up 57.8% of Google’s revenue</a> as of 2023. They <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2022/09/12/the-slow-death-of-third-party-cookies">have been slowest off the mark</a> in turning off third-party cookies in Chrome. With the introduction of the Privacy Sandbox, they now hope to start turning cookies off sometime in 2024.</p>
<h2>How is the Privacy Sandbox different from cookies?</h2>
<p>The details on how the Privacy Sandbox collection of features works <a href="https://developer.chrome.com/en/blog/shipping-privacy-sandbox/#whats-shipping">are rather technical</a>. But here are a few of the most important aspects.</p>
<p>Instead of using third-party cookies to serve you ads across the internet, Chrome will provide something called advertising Topics. These are high-level summaries of your browsing behaviour, tracked locally (such as in your browsing history), that companies can access on request to serve you ads on particular subjects.</p>
<p>Additionally, there are features such as <a href="https://developer.chrome.com/docs/privacy-sandbox/protected-audience/">Protected Audience</a> that can serve you ads for “remarketing” (for example, Chrome tracked you visiting a listing for a toaster, so now you will get ads for toasters elsewhere), and <a href="https://developer.chrome.com/docs/privacy-sandbox/attribution-reporting/">Attribution Reporting</a>, that gathers data on ad clicks.</p>
<p>In short, instead of third-party cookies doing the spying, the features these cookies enable will be available directly within Chrome.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1327238487750434831"}"></div></p>
<h2>Is user tracking necessarily bad?</h2>
<p>While Google pitches the Privacy Sandbox as something that will improve user privacy, <a href="https://movementforanopenweb.com/googles-privacy-sandbox-a-closer-look-at-claims-and-contradictions/">not everyone agrees</a>.</p>
<p>If these features are switched on, Google – one of the world’s biggest advertising companies – is essentially able to listen to you everywhere on the web.</p>
<p>Tracking technology can arguably benefit us as well. For example, it could be helpful if an online store reminds you every three months you need a new toothbrush, or that this time last year you bought a birthday card for your mum.</p>
<p>Offloading cognitive effort, such as reminders like these, is a great way automation can assist humanity. When used in situations where pinpoint accuracy is required, it can make our lives easier and more pleasant.</p>
<p>However, if you are not comfortable with surveillance, the alternative to third-party cookies may not necessarily be the new Privacy Sandbox in Chrome.</p>
<p>The alternative is to completely disable tracking altogether.</p>
<h2>What can you do?</h2>
<p>If you don’t want your online activities to be tracked for advertising purposes, there are a few straightforward choices.</p>
<p>By far the most private browsers are specialist non-tracking browsers that prioritise no tracking, such as <a href="https://duckduckgo.com/">DuckDuckGo</a> and <a href="https://brave.com/">Brave</a>. But if you don’t want to get that nerdy, Safari and Firefox already have third-party cookies blocked by default.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547410/original/file-20230911-19-1eiqz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A screenshot of a Chrome settings page listing Ad topics, Site-suggested ads and Ad measurement" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547410/original/file-20230911-19-1eiqz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547410/original/file-20230911-19-1eiqz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547410/original/file-20230911-19-1eiqz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547410/original/file-20230911-19-1eiqz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=324&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547410/original/file-20230911-19-1eiqz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547410/original/file-20230911-19-1eiqz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547410/original/file-20230911-19-1eiqz9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The tools found in Google Chrome are nestled under Settings - Ads privacy. You can toggle each section on or off individually, and click on them to look at more details.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Screenshot via The Conversation</span></span>
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<p>If you don’t mind some useful targeted advertising, you can leave the Chrome Privacy Sandbox settings on.</p>
<p>If you want to adjust these settings or switch them off, click the three dots in the upper-right corner and go to <em>Settings > Privacy and Security > Ad privacy</em>. It’s unclear if toggling these features off will stop Chrome from collecting these data altogether, or if it just won’t share the data with advertisers. You can find out more details about each feature on <a href="https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/13355898">the Google Chrome Help page</a>.</p>
<p>Lastly, it’s good to remember nothing truly comes for free. Software costs money to develop. If you’re not paying towards that, then it’s likely you – or your data – are the product. We need to revolutionise how we think about our own data and what value it truly holds.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ugly-truth-tech-companies-are-tracking-and-misusing-our-data-and-theres-little-we-can-do-127444">The ugly truth: tech companies are tracking and misusing our data, and there's little we can do</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213150/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erica Mealy is member of the Australian Computer Society (ACS) and the Australian Information Security Association (AISA).</span></em></p>Google is paving the way to serve you ads based directly on your browsing history, instead of cookies.Erica Mealy, Lecturer in Computer Science, University of the Sunshine CoastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1851302022-06-16T05:10:13Z2022-06-16T05:10:13ZGoodbye Internet Explorer. You won’t be missed (but your legacy will be remembered)<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469144/original/file-20220616-11875-8jqevi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=101%2C21%2C4716%2C2289&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>After 27 years, Microsoft has finally bid farewell to the web browser Internet Explorer, and will redirect Explorer users to the latest version of its Edge browser. </p>
<p>As of June 15, Microsoft ended support for Explorer on several versions of Windows 10 – meaning no more productivity, reliability or security updates. Explorer will remain a working browser, but won’t be protected as new threats emerge.</p>
<p>Twenty-seven years is a long time in computing. Many would say this move was long overdue. Explorer has been long outperformed by its competitors, and years of poor user experiences have made it the butt of many internet jokes.</p>
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<h2>How it began</h2>
<p>Explorer was first introduced in 1995 by the Microsoft Corporation, and came bundled with the Windows operating system.</p>
<p>To its credit, Explorer introduced many Windows users to the joys of the internet for the first time. After all, it was only in 1993 that Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the web, <a href="https://thenextweb.com/news/20-years-ago-today-the-world-wide-web-opened-to-the-public">released</a> the first public web browser (aptly called WorldWideWeb).</p>
<p>Providing Explorer as its default browser meant a large proportion of Windows’s global user base would not experience an alternative. But this came at a cost, and Microsoft eventually faced multiple <a href="https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/strategy/microsoft-antitrust-case/">antitrust investigations</a> exploring its monopoly on the browser market.</p>
<p>Still, even though <a href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browsers/browser-history/">a number</a> of other browsers were around (including Netscape Navigator, which pre-dated Explorer), Explorer remained the default choice for millions of people up until around 2002, when Firefox was launched.</p>
<h2>How it ended</h2>
<p>Microsoft has released 11 versions of Explorer (with many minor revisions along the way). It added different functionality and components with each release. Despite this, it lost consumers’ trust due to Explorer’s “legacy architecture” which involved poor <a href="https://www.optimadesign.co.uk/blog/internet-explorer-end-of-life-or-not">design and slowness</a>. </p>
<p>It seems Microsoft got so comfortable with its monopoly that it let the quality of its product slide, just as other competitors were entering the battlefield.</p>
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<p>Even just considering its cosmetic interface (what you see and interact with when you visit a website), Explorer could not give users the authentic experience of <a href="https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-fix-internet-explorer-pages-not-displaying-correctly">modern websites</a>. </p>
<p>On the security front, Explorer exhibited its <a href="https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-26/product_id-9900/Microsoft-Internet-Explorer.html">fair share of weaknesses</a>, which cyber criminals readily and successfully exploited. </p>
<p>While Microsoft may have patched many of these weaknesses over different versions of the browser, the underlying architecture is <a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployedge/microsoft-edge-security-iemode-safer-than-ie">still considered vulnerable</a> by security experts. Microsoft itself has <a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployedge/microsoft-edge-security-iemode-safer-than-ie">acknowledged</a> this:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… [Explorer] is still based on technology that’s 25 years old. It’s a legacy browser that’s architecturally outdated and unable to meet the security challenges of the modern web.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These concerns have resulted in the United States <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/">Department for Homeland Security</a> repeatedly advising internet users against <a href="https://windowsreport.com/internet-explorer-security-issues/">using Explorer</a>.</p>
<p>Explorer’s failure to win over modern audiences is further evident through Microsoft’s ongoing attempts to push users towards Edge. Edge was first introduced in 2015, and since then Explorer has only been used as a compatibility solution.</p>
<h2>What Explorer was up against</h2>
<p>In terms of <a href="https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share#monthly-202206-202206-bar">market share</a>, more than 64% of browser users currently use Chrome. Explorer has dropped to less than 1%, and even Edge only accounts for about 4% of users. What has given Chrome such a leg-up in the browser market? </p>
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<p>Chrome was first introduced by Google in 2008, on the open source <a href="https://www.chromium.org/chromium-projects/">Chromium project</a>, and has since been actively developed and supported. </p>
<p>Being open source means the software is publicly available, and anyone can inspect the source code that runs behind it. Individuals can even contribute to the source code, thereby enhancing the software’s productivity, reliability and security. This was never an option with Explorer. </p>
<p>Moreover, Chrome is multi-platform: it can be used in other operating systems such as Linux, MacOS and on mobile devices, and was supporting a range of systems long before Edge was even released. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Explorer has <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/zune-hd-no-youtube-in-the-browser-for-you/">mainly</a> been <a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployedge/microsoft-edge-supported-operating-systems">restricted</a> to Windows, XBox and a few versions of MacOS.</p>
<h2>Under the hood</h2>
<p>Microsoft’s Edge browser is using the same <a href="https://www.chromium.org/chromium-projects/">Chromium</a> open-source code that Chrome has used since its inception. This is encouraging, but it remains to be seen how Edge will compete against Chrome and other browsers to win users’ confidence. </p>
<p>We won’t be surprised if Microsoft fails to nudge customers towards using Edge as their favourite browser. The latest stats suggest Edge is still far behind Chrome in terms of market share. </p>
<p>Also, the fact Microsoft took seven years to retire Explorer after Edge’s initial release suggests the company hasn’t had great success in getting Edge’s uptake rolling. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469137/original/file-20220616-13070-5lnc2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A screenshot of a Microsoft web page showing Internet Explorer has been retired." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469137/original/file-20220616-13070-5lnc2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469137/original/file-20220616-13070-5lnc2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=250&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469137/original/file-20220616-13070-5lnc2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=250&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469137/original/file-20220616-13070-5lnc2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=250&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469137/original/file-20220616-13070-5lnc2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469137/original/file-20220616-13070-5lnc2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469137/original/file-20220616-13070-5lnc2u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Only some Microsoft operating systems (mainly server platforms) will continue to receive security updates for Explorer under long-term support agreements.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Screenshot</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s next?</h2>
<p>Web browsers play a vital role in establishing privacy and security for users. Design and convenience are important factors for users when selecting a browser. So ultimately, the browser that can most effectively balance security and ease of use will win users. </p>
<p>And it’s hard to say whether Chrome’s current popularity will be sustained over time. Google will no doubt want it to continue, since web browsers are significant <a href="https://fourweekmba.com/how-does-mozilla-make-money/">revenue sources</a>. </p>
<p>But Google as a corporation is becoming increasingly unpopular due to massive <a href="https://theconversation.com/google-is-leading-a-vast-covert-human-experiment-you-may-be-one-of-the-guinea-pigs-154178">data gathering</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-google-getting-worse-increased-advertising-and-algorithm-changes-may-make-it-harder-to-find-what-youre-looking-for-166966">intrusive advertising</a> practices. Chrome is a key component of Google’s data-gathering machine, so it’s possible users may slowly turn away.</p>
<p>As for what to do about Explorer (if you’re one of the few people that still has it sitting meekly on your desktop) – simply <a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/developer/browsers/installation/disable-internet-explorer-windows">uninstall</a> it to avoid security risks. </p>
<p>Even if you’re not using Explorer, just having it installed <a href="https://mashable.com/article/internet-explorer-hacker-windows-pc-exploit">could present</a> a threat to your device. No one wants to be the victim of a cyber attack via a dead browser!</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1537005145711472641"}"></div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185130/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Explorer came at the dawn of the public internet. For millions of people, it will always be their first experience of the World Wide Web.Mohiuddin Ahmed, Lecturer of Computing & Security, Edith Cowan UniversityM Imran Malik, Cyber Security Researcher, Edith Cowan UniversityPaul Haskell-Dowland, Professor of Cyber Security Practice, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1614162021-05-25T19:38:59Z2021-05-25T19:38:59ZWe’re just not compatible any more: why Microsoft finally dumped Internet Explorer<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402529/original/file-20210525-21-1976py9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4076%2C2684&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Glenn Carstens-Peters/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tech giant Microsoft recently announced the retirement of its longstanding web browser, Internet Explorer, in favour of its newer product, Microsoft Edge. With support for Internet Explorer only set to last until June 15, 2022, its remaining users have just over a year to find an alternative. But of course, most web users already have.</p>
<p>While the eventual downfall of Internet Explorer was seen as a foregone conclusion by those who monitor web trends, the news might come as an unwelcome surprise for those who are somewhat less up-to-date.</p>
<p>For the most part, though, this news is a whimper rather than a bang — a footnote at the end of an iconic story spanning more than 25 years.</p>
<p>As a current professional in the IT industry, I’ll break down some possible reasons for this decision, and what we can learn from it.</p>
<h2>Searching for the answer</h2>
<p>Almost everyone is familiar with the idea of “googling” something, but there’s no such thing as “microsofting” something. How did Google manage to become synonymous with web searching, while Microsoft, despite its long and pioneering history, failed to become synonymous with anything?</p>
<p>The answer is market share. Google handles <a href="https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share">92.24% of web searches</a> — more than 3.5 billion requests a day. Microsoft’s own search engine, Bing, has a paltry 2.29%.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402485/original/file-20210525-18-balp68.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graph of search engines' global market share" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402485/original/file-20210525-18-balp68.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402485/original/file-20210525-18-balp68.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402485/original/file-20210525-18-balp68.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402485/original/file-20210525-18-balp68.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402485/original/file-20210525-18-balp68.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402485/original/file-20210525-18-balp68.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402485/original/file-20210525-18-balp68.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Here’s why Google is synonymous with searching the web.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">StatCounter</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s easy to see why users prefer Google’s own web browser, Chrome, over Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which uses Bing as its default search engine. Users who prefer searching via Google (which is almost everyone) can make Google the default search engine in Internet Explorer. But it’s probably easier just to install Chrome and use Google from there.</p>
<h2>Success breeds complacency; complacency breeds failure</h2>
<p>Microsoft wasn’t always a bit player. Back when the web was in its infancy, it was a market-leading pioneer. Before there were app stores, or 5G, or even widespread personal computers, there were large mainframe computers with “unfriendly” Unix-based operating systems developed in the 1970s.</p>
<p>These systems were about as bare-bones as you can get, with little consideration given to graphics or usability. Unix’s original web browser, Netscape, was similarly no-frills.</p>
<p>This is where Microsoft came in, by focusing on making “personal computers” more personal. With much nicer designs and more intuitive user interfaces, by the time Internet Explorer launched in 1995, Microsoft had cemented itself at the forefront of the digital world.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="1995 Internet Explorer logo" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402530/original/file-20210525-14-1hakyy8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402530/original/file-20210525-14-1hakyy8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402530/original/file-20210525-14-1hakyy8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402530/original/file-20210525-14-1hakyy8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=198&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402530/original/file-20210525-14-1hakyy8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402530/original/file-20210525-14-1hakyy8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402530/original/file-20210525-14-1hakyy8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">You can almost hear the sound of the dial-up modem.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But as US Baptist minister and civil rights leader Benjamin E. Mays <a href="https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/benjamin_e_mays_610662">famously warned</a>, “The tragedy of life is often not in our failure, but rather in our complacency.”</p>
<p>Having established its reputation, Microsoft stopped pushing Internet Explorer’s development, and started venturing elsewhere, continually improving Windows but not its web browser. From that point on, Internet Explorer was always late to the party in introducing innovations such as tabbed browsing and search bars. It fell further into irrelevance and obsolescence.</p>
<h2>Compatibility issues</h2>
<p>Having spent much of my life as a web developer, one of my biggest gripes is the incompatibility of some web browsers. It’s exhausting and demoralising spending hours polishing web pages, only for them not to run properly on some browsers. </p>
<p>This concern even spread to Microsoft’s own in-house developers. In a 2019 <a href="https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/the-perils-of-using-internet-explorer-as-your-default-browser/ba-p/331732">blog post</a> titled “The perils of using Internet Explorer as your default browser”, Microsoft’s Chris Jackson warned:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] developers by and large just aren’t testing for Internet Explorer these days. They’re testing on modern browsers.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The message was clear: web developers don’t get on well with Internet Explorer, so sites that work well on other browsers might not work here — and that problem is only going to get worse.</p>
<p>With Microsoft having lost interest in making sure Internet Explorer keeps up, it has transferred its attention to its new browser, <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge">Microsoft Edge</a>. But the horse may already have bolted. The marketplace is crowded with Google’s Chrome, Apple’s Safari, Mozilla’s Firefox, and numerous open source browsers.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/battle-of-the-browsers-how-the-web-was-won-173">Battle of the browsers: how the web was won</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Phoning it in</h2>
<p>Here’s another key stat that illustrates Internet Explorer’s decline: in 2020, <a href="https://www.perficient.com/insights/research-hub/mobile-vs-desktop-usage">more than two-thirds of all website visits</a> were via a mobile device.</p>
<p>Now, a browser that can sync across multiple platforms is a necessity. In a world of Apple and Android devices, the term “Windows phone” sounds prehistoric — because it pretty much is. Operating system support for Windows phones <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/11/15952654/microsoft-windows-phone-end-of-support">ended in 2017</a>, just seven years after Microsoft first launched the range.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Hands using a tablet in front of a laptop" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402531/original/file-20210525-17-12mteyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402531/original/file-20210525-17-12mteyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402531/original/file-20210525-17-12mteyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402531/original/file-20210525-17-12mteyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402531/original/file-20210525-17-12mteyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402531/original/file-20210525-17-12mteyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402531/original/file-20210525-17-12mteyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A browser that works seamlessly across a variety of devices is a must these days.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Taras Shypka/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So, having existed since the dawn of the internet age (or least since the internet went truly mainstream), Internet Explorer has failed in many ways to keep up.</p>
<p>Despite the success of its Surface tablets, Microsoft failed to maintain a foothold in the smartphone market, which may explain its unwillingness to keep developing Internet Explorer. Or maybe it’s the other way around, and Internet Explorer’s clunkiness is the reason no one uses a Windows phone.</p>
<p>But the bottom line is Internet Explorer just lacks the versatility needed by web-savvy users. And as of next year, even the non-savvy users will stop relying on it too.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-spent-six-years-scouring-billions-of-links-and-found-the-web-is-both-expanding-and-shrinking-159215">We spent six years scouring billions of links, and found the web is both expanding and shrinking</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161416/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vinh Bui does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Once a pioneer of the information age, now stereotyped as the browser of choice for people who are less than web-savvy, the curtain will finally come down on Internet Explorer next year.Vinh Bui, Lecturer, Southern Cross UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1565302021-03-08T14:54:28Z2021-03-08T14:54:28ZGoogle’s scrapping third-party cookies – but invasive targeted advertising will live on<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388235/original/file-20210308-22-1j0jzc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C33%2C5590%2C3699&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-july-6th-2018-google-1128113447">Ink Drop/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Google has announced plans to stop using tracking cookies on its Chrome browser by 2022, replacing them with a group profiling system in a move the company says will plot “<a href="https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/a-more-privacy-first-web/">a course towards a more privacy-friendly web</a>”.</p>
<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/googles-scrapping-third-party-cookies-but-invasive-targeted-advertising-will-live-on-156530&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p>The change is significant. Chrome commands some <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/544400/market-share-of-internet-browsers-desktop/">two-thirds</a> of the web browser market. Third-party tracking cookies, meanwhile, underpin much of the targeted advertising industry. And, while Mozilla’s <a href="https://venturebeat.com/2019/06/04/firefox-enhanced-tracking-protection-blocks-third-party-cookies-by-default/">Firefox</a> and Apple’s <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/apple-blocks-third-party-cookies-in-safari/">Safari</a> have already stopped supporting third-party cookies, Google is the first firm to produce replacement advertising support.</p>
<p>Rather than tracking and targeting you on an individual basis, Google’s alternative groups you instead into a crowd of people with similar generalised interests. Google argues this grants users more privacy. This sits oddly with the reassurance to advertisers that the new technique is <a href="https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/2021-01-privacy-sandbox/">at least 95% as effective</a> as individual targeting.</p>
<p>But beneath the gloss of Google’s press releases, the shift from tracking to profiling raises a number of new privacy and discrimination concerns. Ostensibly a move to boost individual privacy, Chrome’s new system ultimately looks set to benefit Google, handing the company yet another advantage over its beleaguered AdTech competitors. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An eye reflects the Google logo" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388282/original/file-20210308-13-t9tkr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388282/original/file-20210308-13-t9tkr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388282/original/file-20210308-13-t9tkr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388282/original/file-20210308-13-t9tkr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388282/original/file-20210308-13-t9tkr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388282/original/file-20210308-13-t9tkr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388282/original/file-20210308-13-t9tkr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Google Chrome is the world’s dominant web browser, just as Google Search is the world’s leading search engine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/new-york-usa-4-june-2017-1494178778">Flystock/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Cookies to cohorts</h2>
<p>The traditional web tracking and targeting method uses so-called <a href="https://privacy.net/stop-cookies-tracking/">cookies</a>: small files stored by web browsers such as Chrome. Their original purpose was to retain information – such as the items you’ve added to online shopping carts, for example – between browsing sessions. This was seen as useful for consumers.</p>
<p>Nowadays, cookies mostly serve advertising interests. On Chrome, third parties use cookies to track you across the web, amassing enough data on your browsing habits to target you with highly specific adverts. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-websites-watch-your-every-move-and-ignore-privacy-settings-87962">How websites watch your every move and ignore privacy settings</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In recognition of how invasive this tracking has become, the <a href="https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-pecr/guidance-on-the-use-of-cookies-and-similar-technologies/how-do-the-cookie-rules-relate-to-the-gdpr/">EU’s data protection laws</a> class cookies as “online identifiers”, subject to regulations that require websites to gain your consent before issuing cookies to your browser.</p>
<p>Google’s new system for Chrome will abandon that. The browser will instead use your recent browsing history to generate your “cohort identity”. That’s <a href="https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/2021-01-privacy-sandbox/">currently achieved</a> by using a “<a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/509907.509965">simhash</a>”, which in simple terms generates “magic numbers” to represent your interests before grouping you with those in possession of similar numbers.</p>
<p>Hidden within a cohort of a few thousand individuals, you’ll then have adverts targeted at your cohort, rather than you as an individual. This is presented as a <a href="https://github.com/WICG/floc/blob/master/security-and-privacy-self-review.md">boost for privacy</a>, as it moves away from the individualised tracking and targeting that made third-party cookies particularly invasive. </p>
<h2>Towards Facebook’s model</h2>
<p>Conceptually, Google’s proposed system isn’t new – it is a form of profiling, which enables an advertising model that Facebook has been using for some time. Targeting someone’s cohort identity is just like creating a “<a href="https://www.facebook.com/business/help/164749007013531">Lookalike Audience</a>” based on one individual, which is a service Facebook currently offers advertisers. </p>
<p>We should expect profiling to also create a number of different named cohorts, from which advertisers can create <a href="https://www.facebook.com/business/help/744354708981227">Custom Audiences</a> with mixed interests – something that Facebook also offers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A close-up of a screen offering Facebook adverts" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388267/original/file-20210308-21-xy8pap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388267/original/file-20210308-21-xy8pap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388267/original/file-20210308-21-xy8pap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388267/original/file-20210308-21-xy8pap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388267/original/file-20210308-21-xy8pap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388267/original/file-20210308-21-xy8pap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388267/original/file-20210308-21-xy8pap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Facebook has offered advertisers adverts based on profiling for many years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/new-york-usa-april-26-2018-1078357280">PixieMe/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is where profiling becomes problematic. In 2016, it was revealed that <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/facebook-advertising-discrimination-housing-race-sex-national-origin">Facebook allowed housing advertisers</a> to exclude users based on race. Even after Facebook made changes to its audience groupings, it was still possible for advertisers to discriminate based on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/may/16/facebook-lets-advertisers-target-users-based-on-sensitive-interests">sensitive interests</a> held predominantly by minorities. </p>
<p>Profiling involves machine-learning algorithms and AI technologies which have repeatedly been shown to <a href="https://time.com/5593436/ai-voice-assistants-gender-bias/">reinforce real-world bias</a>. As such, Google’s decision to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/03/technology/google-researcher-timnit-gebru.html">sack key members of its AI ethics team</a> just as Chrome is adopting a profiling advertising model appears particularly alarming.</p>
<p>Aside from the known harms and risks of profiling, it’s unclear how Google’s new model enhances individual privacy. For the system to work, Chrome must freely volunteer your cohort identity to any website you visit, whereas a third-party cookie doesn’t reveal that volume of data to all websites.</p>
<p>The smaller cohorts get, meanwhile, the easier you’ll be to spot within them. And you’d expect Google to favour smaller cohorts, seeing as larger cohorts naturally reduce the accuracy of targeted advertising. Overall, the change will introduce <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/03/googles-floc-terrible-idea">a number of new risks</a> for privacy and discrimination. So why else might Google have chosen to scrap third-party cookies on Chrome?</p>
<h2>Google’s mixed motivations</h2>
<p>One reason is regulation. <a href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2021/02/10/confidentiality-of-electronic-communications-council-agrees-its-position-on-eprivacy-rules/">The EU’s new ePrivacy directive</a> may well move to abolish the traditional use of tracking cookies within the EU anyway, with far-reaching consequences for other jurisdictions. So Google may simply be jumping before being pushed. </p>
<p>By restricting how third-party advertising services can use Chrome, Google may be set to benefit by stifling competition, too. An interest group for online advertisers has already asked the UK’s competition watchdog to account for the Chrome change as part of its existing <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2021/03/05/google-faces-deepening-competition-probe-block-adverts-use-peoples/">probe into Google’s advertising practices</a>. Google itself will retain ample tracking possibilities after the change, particularly when Chrome users are logged in to their Google accounts. </p>
<p>Google is the biggest beneficiary of Chrome’s move from cookies to cohorts. Framed as a privacy boon, Google’s new system only mildly restricts its traditional targeted advertising reach, while adding Facebook’s profiling-based mode of advertising to its repertoire. </p>
<p>End users like you and I, meanwhile, are unlikely to notice any difference whatsoever. We’ll still be watched and targeted based on our online activity – only now as part of a group, rather than an individual.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156530/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eerke Boiten receives funding from the EPSRC for the De Montfort University Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research.</span></em></p>Google’s shift to ‘profiling’ is being billed as a privacy boon – but it’s also a strategic pivot.Eerke Boiten, Professor of Cybersecurity, School of Computer Science and Informatics, De Montfort UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1424452020-07-30T12:10:47Z2020-07-30T12:10:47ZPrivate browsing: What it does – and doesn’t do – to shield you from prying eyes on the web<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350037/original/file-20200728-35-106orez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C7%2C5000%2C4985&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The major browsers have privacy modes, but don't confuse privacy for anonymity.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/seamless-pattern-with-big-browsers-royalty-free-illustration/1206416725?adppopup=true">Oleg Mishutin/iStock via Getty Images </a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Leer <a href="https://theconversation.com/te-sentias-muy-seguro-navegando-en-modo-incognito-144045">en español</a></em></p>
<p>Many people look for more privacy when they browse the web by using their browsers in privacy-protecting modes, called “Private Browsing” in Mozilla Firefox, Opera and Apple Safari; “Incognito” in Google Chrome; and “InPrivate” in Microsoft Edge. </p>
<p>These private browsing tools sound reassuring, and they’re popular. According to a <a href="https://duckduckgo.com/download/Private_Browsing.pdf">2017 survey</a>, nearly half of American internet users have tried a private browsing mode, and most who have tried it use it regularly. </p>
<p>However, <a href="https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/soups2018/soups2018-habib-prying.pdf">our research</a> has found that many people who use private browsing have misconceptions about what protection they’re gaining. A common misconception is that these browser modes allow you to browse the web anonymously, surfing the web without websites identifying you and without your internet service provider or your employer knowing what websites you visit. The tools actually provide much more limited protections.</p>
<p>Other studies conducted by the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2019/10/09/americans-and-digital-knowledge/">Pew Research Center</a> and the privacy-protective search engine company <a href="https://duckduckgo.com/download/Private_Browsing.pdf">DuckDuckGo</a> have similar findings. In fact, a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2020/06/03/google-chrome-privacy-lawsuit-could-you-get-a-5000-payout-incognito-mode-class-action/#21c2e7191485">recent lawsuit against Google</a> alleges that internet users are not getting the privacy protection they expect when using Chrome’s Incognito mode.</p>
<h2>How it works</h2>
<p>While the exact implementation varies from browser to browser, what private browsing modes have in common is that once you close your private browsing window, your browser no longer stores the websites you visited, cookies, user names, passwords and information from forms you filled out during that private browsing session. </p>
<p>Essentially, each time you open a new private browsing window you are given a “clean slate” in the form of a brand new browser window that has not stored any browsing history or cookies. When you close your private browsing window, the slate is wiped clean again and the browsing history and cookies from that private browsing session are deleted. However, if you bookmark a site or download a file while using private browsing mode, the bookmarks and file will remain on your system. </p>
<p>Although some browsers, including Safari and Firefox, offer some additional protection against web trackers, private browsing mode does not guarantee that your web activities cannot be linked back to you or your device. Notably, private browsing mode does not prevent websites from learning your internet address, and it does not prevent your employer, school or internet service provider from seeing your web activities by tracking your IP address.</p>
<h2>Reasons to use it</h2>
<p>We conducted a <a href="https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/soups2018/soups2018-habib-prying.pdf">research study</a> in which we identified reasons people use private browsing mode. Most study participants wanted to protect their browsing activities or personal data from other users of their devices. Private browsing is actually pretty effective for this purpose. </p>
<p>We found that people often used private browsing to visit websites or conduct searches that they did not want other users of their device to see, such as those that might be embarrassing or related to a surprise gift. In addition, private browsing is an easy way to log out of websites when borrowing someone else’s device – so long as you remember to close the window when you are done.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Smart phone displaying Google incognito mode" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350039/original/file-20200728-29-1wa371x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350039/original/file-20200728-29-1wa371x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350039/original/file-20200728-29-1wa371x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350039/original/file-20200728-29-1wa371x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350039/original/file-20200728-29-1wa371x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350039/original/file-20200728-29-1wa371x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350039/original/file-20200728-29-1wa371x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Private browsing can help cover your internet tracks by automatically deleting your browsing history and cookies when you close the browser.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-photo-illustration-a-private-browsing-application-news-photo/1157262074?adppopup=true">Avishek Das/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Private browsing provides some protection against cookie-based tracking. Since cookies from your private browsing session are not stored after you close your private browsing window, it’s less likely that you will see online advertising in the future related to the websites you visit while using private browsing. </p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Additionally, as long as you have not logged into your Google account, any searches you make will not appear in your Google account history and will not affect future Google search results. Similarly, if you watch a video on YouTube or other service in private browsing, as long as you are not logged into that service, your activity does not affect the recommendations you get in normal browsing mode.</p>
<h2>What it doesn’t do</h2>
<p>Private browsing does not make you anonymous online. Anyone who can see your internet traffic – your school or employer, your internet service provider, government agencies, people snooping on your public wireless connection – can see your browsing activity. Shielding that activity requires more sophisticated tools that use encryption, like virtual private networks.</p>
<p>Private browsing also offers few security protections. In particular, it does not prevent you from downloading a virus or malware to your device. Additionally, private browsing does not offer any additional protection for the transmission of your credit card or other personal information to a website when you fill out an online form.</p>
<p>It is also important to note that the longer you leave your private browsing window open, the more browsing data and cookies it accumulates, reducing your privacy protection. Therefore, you should get in the habit of closing your private browsing window frequently to wipe your slate clean.</p>
<h2>What’s in a name</h2>
<p>It is not all that surprising that people have misconceptions about how private browsing mode works; the word “private” suggests a lot more protection than these modes actually provide. </p>
<p>Furthermore, <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3178876.3186088">a 2018 research study</a> found that the disclosures shown on the landing pages of private browsing windows do little to dispel misconceptions that people have about these modes. Chrome provides more information about what is and is not protected than most of the other browsers, and Mozilla now links to an informational page on the <a href="https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/common-myths-about-private-browsing?as=u&utm_source=inproduct">common myths</a> related to private browsing. </p>
<p>However, it may be difficult to dispel all of these myths without changing the name of the browsing mode and making it clear that private browsing stops your browser from keeping a record of your browsing activity, but it isn’t a comprehensive privacy shield.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142445/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lorrie Cranor receives funding from Bosch, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Mellon CyLab, DARPA, DuckDuckGo, Facebook, an endowed professorship established by the founders of FORE Systems, Google, Highmark Health, Innovators Network Foundation, NSA, and NSF. She is affiliated with the ACM Technology Policy Council, the Computing Research Association, the Future of Privacy Forum, the Aspen Institute Cybersecurity Group, the Center for Cybersecurity Policy and Law, and the Consumer Reports Digital Lab Advisory Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hana Habib receives funding from Carnegie Mellon CyLab and Facebook. </span></em></p>Private mode browsing is a useful way to cover your online tracks. Just don’t read too much into the word ‘private.’Lorrie Cranor, Professor of Computer Science and of Engineering & Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon UniversityHana Habib, Graduate Research Assistant at the Institute for Software Research, Carnegie Mellon UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/690332016-12-02T16:54:03Z2016-12-02T16:54:03ZThree ways Facebook could reduce fake news without resorting to censorship<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148323/original/image-20161201-25685-vzmcdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/pic-525622510/stock-vector-flat-design-concepts-big-data-filter.html">Filter via shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The public gets a lot of its <a href="http://www.journalism.org/2016/05/26/news-use-across-social-media-platforms-2016/">news and information from Facebook</a>. Some of it is fake. That presents a problem for the site’s users, and for the company itself.</p>
<p>Facebook cofounder and chairman Mark Zuckerberg said the company will find ways to address the problem, though he didn’t acknowledge its severity. And without apparent irony, he made this announcement in a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10103269806149061">Facebook post</a> surrounded – at least for some viewers – <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-cofounder-ev-williams-on-facebook-fake-news-problem-2016-11">by fake news items</a>.</p>
<p>Other technology-first companies with similar power over how the public informs itself, such as Google, have worked hard over the years to <a href="http://searchengineland.com/library/google/google-panda-update">demote low-quality information</a> in their search results. But Facebook has not made similar moves to help users. </p>
<p>What could Facebook do to meet its social obligation to sort fact from fiction for the <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/social-networking-fact-sheet/">70 percent of internet users</a> who access Facebook? If the site is increasingly where people are getting their news, what could the company do without taking up the mantle of being a final arbiter of truth? My work as a professor of information studies suggests there are at least three options.</p>
<h2>Facebook’s role</h2>
<p>Facebook says it is a <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-leaders-call-it-a-tech-company-not-media-company-1477432140">technology company, not a media company</a>. The company’s primary motive is profit, rather than a <a href="https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/journalism-essentials/what-is-journalism/purpose-journalism/">loftier goal</a> like producing high-quality information to help the public act knowledgeably in the world.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, posts on the site, and the surrounding conversations both online and off, are increasingly <a href="https://theconversation.com/misinformation-on-social-media-can-technology-save-us-69264">involved with our public discourse</a> and the nation’s political agenda. As a result, the corporation has a social obligation to use its technology to advance the common good.</p>
<p>Discerning truth from falsehood, however, can be daunting. Facebook is not alone in <a href="https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10103269806149061">raising concerns about its ability</a> – and that of other tech companies – to judge the quality of news. The director of <a href="http://factcheck.org/">FactCheck.org</a>, a nonprofit fact-checking group based at the University of Pennsylvania, told Bloomberg News that <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-23/facebook-s-quest-to-stop-fake-news-risks-becoming-slippery-slope">many claims and stories aren’t entirely false</a>. Many have <a href="http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/oct/01/viral-image/viral-image-wrongly-accuses-clinton-stealing/">kernels of truth</a>, even if they are very misleadingly phrased. So what can Facebook really do?</p>
<h2>Option 1: Nudging</h2>
<p>One option Facebook could adopt involves using existing lists identifying prescreened reliable and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/11/18/my-fake-news-list-went-viral-but-made-up-stories-are-only-part-of-the-problem/">fake-news sites</a>. The site could then alert those who want to share a troublesome article that its source is questionable. </p>
<p>One developer, for example, has created an extension to the Chrome browser <a href="http://mashable.com/2016/11/15/bs-detector-chrome-extension-facebook/">that indicates when a website</a> you’re looking at might be fake. (He calls it the “B.S. Detector.”) In a 36-hour hackathon, a group of college students <a href="http://mashable.com/2016/11/19/facebook-fib-extension-fake-news/">created a similar Chrome browser extension</a> that indicates whether the website the article comes from is on a list of verified reliable sites, or is instead unverified.</p>
<p>These extensions present their alerts while people are scrolling through their newsfeeds. At present, neither of these works directly as part of Facebook. Integrating them would provide a more seamless experience, and would make the service available to all Facebook users, beyond just those who installed one of the extensions on their own computer.</p>
<p>The company could also use the information the extensions generate – or their source material – to warn users before they share unreliable information. In the world of software design, this is known as a “<a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/40041817">nudge</a>.” The warning system monitors user behavior and notifies people or gives them some feedback to help alter their actions when using the software. </p>
<p>This has been done before, for other purposes. For example, colleagues of mine here at Syracuse University <a href="http://repository.cmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1335&context=heinzworks">built a nudging application</a> that monitors what Facebook users are writing in a new post. It pops up a notification if the content they are writing is something they might regret, such as an angry message with swear words. </p>
<p>The beauty of nudges is the gentle but effective way they remind people about behavior to help them then change that behavior. Studies that have tested the use of nudges to <a href="http://nudges.org/">improve healthy behavior</a>, for example, find that people are more likely to change their diet and exercise based on gentle reminders and recommendations. Nudges can be effective because they give people control while also giving them useful information. Ultimately the recipient of the nudge still decides whether to use the feedback provided. Nudges don’t feel coercive; instead, they’re potentially empowering.</p>
<h2>Option 2: Crowdsourcing</h2>
<p>Facebook could also use the power of crowdsourcing to help evaluate news sources and indicate when news that is being shared has been evaluated and rated. One important challenge with fake news is that it plays to how our brains are wired. We have mental shortcuts, called <a href="http://us.macmillan.com/thinkingfastandslow/danielkahneman/9780374533557">cognitive biases</a>, that help us make decisions when we don’t have quite enough information (we never do), or quite enough time (we never do). Generally these shortcuts work well for us as we make decisions on everything from which route to drive to work to what car to buy But, occasionally, they fail us. Falling for fake news is one of those instances.</p>
<p>This can happen to anyone – even me. In the primary season, I was following a Twitter hashtag on which then-primary candidate Donald Trump tweeted. A message appeared that I found sort of shocking. I retweeted it with a comment mocking its offensiveness. A day later, I realized that the tweet was from a parody account that looked identical to Trump’s Twitter handle name, but had one letter changed. </p>
<p>I missed it because I had fallen for <a href="https://theconversation.com/confirmation-bias-a-psychological-phenomenon-that-helps-explain-why-pundits-got-it-wrong-68781">confirmation bias</a> – the tendency to overlook some information because it runs counter to my expectations, predictions or hunches. In this case, I had disregarded that little voice that told me this particular tweet was a little too over the top for Trump, because I believed he was capable of producing messages even more inappropriate. Fake news preys on us the same way.</p>
<p>Another problem with fake news is that it can travel much farther than any correction that might come afterwards. This is similar to the challenges that have always faced newsrooms when they have reported erroneous information. Although they publish corrections, often the people originally exposed to the misinformation never see the update, and therefore don’t know what they read earlier is wrong. Moreover, people tend to hold on to the first information they encounter; <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11109-010-9112-2">corrections can even backfire</a> by repeating wrong information and reinforcing the error in readers’ minds.</p>
<p>If people evaluated information as they read it and shared those ratings, the truth scores, like the nudges, could be part of the Facebook application. That could help users decide for themselves whether to read, share or simply ignore. One challenge with crowdsourcing is that people can game these systems to try and drive biased outcomes. But, the beauty of crowdsourcing is that the crowd can also rate the raters, just as happens on Reddit or with Amazon’s reviews, to reduce the effects and weight of troublemakers. </p>
<h2>Option 3: Algorithmic social distance</h2>
<p>The third way that Facebook could help would be to reduce the algorithmic bias that presently exists in Facebook. The site primarily shows posts from those with whom you have engaged on Facebook. In other words, the Facebook algorithm creates what some have called a <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles">filter bubble</a>, an online news phenomenon that has <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/3e2ee254-bf96-11dc-8052-0000779fd2ac">concerned scholars</a> for decades now. If you are exposed only to people with ideas that are like your own, it leads to <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9760.00148/full">political polarization</a>: Liberals get even more extreme in their liberalism, and conservatives get more conservative. </p>
<p>The filter bubble creates an “echo chamber,” where similar ideas bounce around endlessly, but new information <a href="https://theconversation.com/misinformation-on-social-media-can-technology-save-us-69264">has a hard time finding its way in</a>. This is a problem when the echo chamber blocks out corrective or fact-checking information.</p>
<p>If Facebook were to open up more news to come into a person’s newsfeed from a random set of people in their social network, it would increase the chances that new information, alternative information and contradictory information would flow within that network. The average number of <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/02/03/6-new-facts-about-facebook/">friends in a Facebook user’s network is 338</a>. Although many of us have friends and family who share our values and beliefs, we also have acquaintances and strangers who are part of our Facebook network who have diametrically opposed views. If Facebook’s algorithms brought more of those views into our networks, the filter bubble would be more porous.</p>
<p>All of these options are well within the capabilities of the engineers and researchers at Facebook. They would empower users to make better decisions about the information they choose to read and to share with their social networks. As a leading platform for information dissemination and a generator of social and political culture through talk and information sharing, Facebook need not be the ultimate arbiter of truth. But it can use the power of its social networks to help users gauge the value of items amid the stream of content they face.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69033/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Stromer-Galley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If the site is increasingly where people are getting their news, what could the company do without taking up the mantle of being a final arbiter of truth?Jennifer Stromer-Galley, Professor of Information Studies, Syracuse UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/576622016-05-11T20:06:36Z2016-05-11T20:06:36ZConfusion over Google’s paid services could land it in trouble, again<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122007/original/image-20160510-20713-15r3pwy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some people are still confused over what is paid or sponsored content in a typical Google search.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-695464p1.html?cr=00&pl=edit-00">Shutterstock/Denys Prykhodov</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Google is the world’s <a href="http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/google.com">most popular search engine</a> and is by far the <a href="http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/google.com.au">most popular search engine</a> used in Australia. But our research suggests that most Australians do not understand how the Google search engine works or what they are clicking on when they use it.</p>
<p>Most of us use the Google search engine every day, whether to find information for our work, study, shopping, leisure or for pure idle curiosity. But have you taken a close look at the kinds of results Google produces when you conduct a search? And do you know the difference between an advertisement and what Google shows because it thinks it is most relevant to your inquiry? </p>
<p>This is the question at the heart of our research on Australian internet users, which seeks to shed light on whether they understand the different search results Google produces.</p>
<p>These results include paid-for adverts, organic or natural results produced because they are most relevant to the search inquiry and results from Google’s other, affiliate services such as Google News, Google Maps and Google Shopping.</p>
<p>We surveyed more than 1,000 Australians from different backgrounds and parts of the country with the results <a href="http://ijlit.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/05/08/ijlit.eaw004.full">published this week</a> in the International Journal of Law and Information Technology.</p>
<h2>User confusion</h2>
<p>Our results show that Australian consumers are confused about the different parts of Google’s search results pages, and why Google produces them.</p>
<p>In particular, our research indicates consumers are especially confused about the nature and origin of Google’s vertical search services such as Google Shopping and its newer search features or refinements such as the <a href="https://www.google.com/intl/es419/insidesearch/features/search/knowledge.html">Knowledge Graph</a> box. Our research also shows that consumers are confused about the origin of organic search results.</p>
<p>In our survey, we showed respondents two screenshots of Google search results pages from the Chrome browser on a desktop computer. Chrome is the most popular browser used in Australia.</p>
<p>The screenshots related to the search terms “apple” and “rolex”. We boxed and labelled the different parts of the search results page. Then we asked respondents a series of questions about those different parts. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118641/original/image-20160414-4694-13aszkq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118641/original/image-20160414-4694-13aszkq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118641/original/image-20160414-4694-13aszkq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118641/original/image-20160414-4694-13aszkq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118641/original/image-20160414-4694-13aszkq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118641/original/image-20160414-4694-13aszkq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118641/original/image-20160414-4694-13aszkq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118641/original/image-20160414-4694-13aszkq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A breakdown of the Google search results for ‘apple’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Screenshot</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For instance, when we showed respondents the “apple” search results page, we asked them why Section A (advertising) appeared and 58.7% correctly believed Apple Inc had paid for placement there. </p>
<p>But when we asked them about Section B, an organic search result, 36.4% thought incorrectly that Apple had paid for its placement and only 49% thought this section appeared because of its relevance. </p>
<p>We also asked them about the two Google Maps results, and only a minority (13% and 21% respectively) correctly identified that these were from another Google service. About 22% of respondents wrongly believed that Apple Inc had paid to appear in the Google News results, and only 19.8% correctly identified that Google News is an affiliated Google service.</p>
<p>We then asked the survey respondents some more general questions about how Google produces different kinds of search results and 67% were unaware that organic search results could not be purchased from Google by advertisers. Less than half of the respondents (47.9%) knew that these results were determined by Google’s algorithm.</p>
<p>Next, we showed respondents the “rolex” screenshot.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118643/original/image-20160414-4674-1pnkvi7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118643/original/image-20160414-4674-1pnkvi7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118643/original/image-20160414-4674-1pnkvi7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=793&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118643/original/image-20160414-4674-1pnkvi7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=793&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118643/original/image-20160414-4674-1pnkvi7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=793&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118643/original/image-20160414-4674-1pnkvi7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=996&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118643/original/image-20160414-4674-1pnkvi7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=996&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118643/original/image-20160414-4674-1pnkvi7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=996&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A breakdown of the Google search results for ‘rolex’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Screenshop</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We were particularly interested in the Google Shopping results (Section G). Nearly 70% of respondents were unaware that this was a result from one of Google’s affiliated services.</p>
<p>Finally, we asked survey respondents some general questions about the labelling of results. While 60% of people agreed or strongly agreed that Google clearly differentiated each section of its search results page, 68% agreed or strongly agreed that Google could improve the layout and labelling of results to make their origins and/or how they were generated clearer to users.</p>
<p>Some respondents thought this could be achieved by better, clearer labels and headings. Others wanted more transparency and honesty in Google’s search results, particularly with respect to preferencing of affiliated services and perceived Google kickbacks. </p>
<h2>Legal context</h2>
<p>The prompt for this survey was the <a href="http://www.hcourt.gov.au/cases/case_s175-2012">_Google v ACCC _case</a>, where the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) alleged Google had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct in violation of Australian Consumer Law regarding its publication of misleading sponsored links, including by not sufficiently distinguishing between the adverts and the organic search results. </p>
<p>While Google was successful in defending the allegations levelled against it, the case exposed a concerning and unsubstantiated assumption.</p>
<p>The judge at first instance, Justice Nicholas, said that Australian internet users understood the difference between organic search results and sponsored links or adverts, without reference to any empirical evidence in support. </p>
<p>Our research, the first of its kind in Australia, directly contradicts this assumption, and should give Google (and its competitors) some cause for concern, because it potentially exposes them to a possible new legal challenge on misleading and deceptive conduct.</p>
<p>It is true that evidence of consumer confusion does not necessarily equate to misleading and deceptive conduct against Australian Consumer Law. But evidence of confusion can be a first step towards showing that the company was not acting in accordance with the law.</p>
<p>And our results suggest that this is an issue on which further and more thorough research into Australian consumers’ understanding of Google’s search results would be highly desirable. </p>
<p>From Google’s perspective, it should consider taking simple steps to label the different parts of its search results page more clearly. This could protect Google against further litigation, while also delivering a better search experience to consumers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57662/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angela Daly is a Director of the Australian Privacy Foundation. She received an internal grant from Swinburne's Faculty of Health, Arts and Design to fund this research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Scardamaglia received an internal grant from Swinburne's Faculty of Business & Law to fund this research.</span></em></p>Most Australians do not understand how the Google search engine works and what is paid or free content in any search results.Angela Daly, Vice Chancellor's Research Fellow, Queensland University of TechnologyAmanda Scardamaglia, Senior Lecturer, Deputy Department Chair, Swinburne Law School, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/466282015-08-26T04:51:54Z2015-08-26T04:51:54ZApple’s mobile ad blocking will hasten the death of online advertising<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92991/original/image-20150826-32502-iv3xj5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ads will soon be easily blocked on iOS 9 phones.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Japanexperterna.se/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Apple is about to open a new front in the ongoing war against online advertising. The new version of its mobile operating system, <a href="http://www.techradar.com/au/news/software/operating-systems/ios-9-what-we-want-to-see-1253732">iOS 9</a>, will support <a href="http://au.pcmag.com/browsers-reviews-and/31334/news/ios-9-to-support-ad-blocking-on-safari">ad blocking</a> by Safari, its mobile web browser. </p>
<p>A study by Adobe and pro-advertising company <a href="https://pagefair.com/">PageFair</a> finds that the popularity of <a href="https://getadblock.com/">ad blocking extensions</a> in desktop web browsers is responsible for <a href="http://blog.pagefair.com/2015/ad-blocking-report/">US$22 billion in lost revenue</a> to the websites that host ads. </p>
<p>They estimate that there are now 198 million users worldwide actively blocking ads. Amongst 400 users surveyed by the report’s authors, the main reasons cited for using ad blocking software were avoiding privacy abuse by targeted advertising as well as the number of ads encountered when browsing.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93089/original/image-20150826-15393-1emjznp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93089/original/image-20150826-15393-1emjznp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93089/original/image-20150826-15393-1emjznp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=216&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93089/original/image-20150826-15393-1emjznp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=216&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93089/original/image-20150826-15393-1emjznp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=216&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93089/original/image-20150826-15393-1emjznp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93089/original/image-20150826-15393-1emjznp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93089/original/image-20150826-15393-1emjznp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A typical message from a website about the use of any ad blocking.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">TheGuardian.com screen grab</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The practice of trying to guilt users into switching off their ad blocking software when visiting sites doesn’t appear to be working and the display of messages to ad blocking users by web sites has diminished.</p>
<p>Ad blocking apps that will be available for Safari on iOS 9 are already being made available to beta testers. One such app, <a href="http://murphyapps.co/blog/2015/8/22/crystal-benchmarks">Crystal</a>, not only blocks ads but experiments by the developer has shown that using this ad blocking software speeds up web pages loading in the browser by four times. This also results in a significant reduction in data being used, which is significant on a mobile device using cellular data. </p>
<p>Another ad blocking app <a href="http://www.cio.com/article/2969342/ios/ios-9-purify-ad-blocker-ready-for-beta-testing.html">Purify</a> that is also in beta testing appears to also block ads on YouTube.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92978/original/image-20150826-32474-1av1nj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92978/original/image-20150826-32474-1av1nj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92978/original/image-20150826-32474-1av1nj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92978/original/image-20150826-32474-1av1nj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92978/original/image-20150826-32474-1av1nj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92978/original/image-20150826-32474-1av1nj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92978/original/image-20150826-32474-1av1nj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92978/original/image-20150826-32474-1av1nj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The stand out, and that’s precisely why so many people block them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pascale Kinchen Douglas/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Ad blocking on mobile is not completely new</h2>
<p>Ad blocking has been available for some time on Android for users of the <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/addon/adblock-plus/">Firefox mobile browser</a> and for <a href="https://adblockplus.org/android-install">Google Chrome</a>. In the case of blocking ads by Google Chrome, an app needs to be installed which is not from the Google Play app store. </p>
<p>Ad blocking has also been available on Apple devices but have worked by blocking access to certain domains that serve up the ads. <a href="http://adblockios.com/">AdBlock</a> for example works by pretending to be a virtual private network (VPN) connection and filters out access to specific sites. This of course only works if the list of sites to block is up-to-date. It also doesn’t allow for “whitelists”, which are sites that are allowed through because they are deemed “<a href="https://acceptableads.org/">acceptable</a>”.</p>
<p>However, the move by Apple is going to boost ad blocking on mobile dramatically because it is going to make the process of doing so that much easier. This has advertisers, and sites that make money from advertising, increasingly <a href="http://au.pcmag.com/mobile-operating-system/31341/opinion/apple-ios-9-ad-blocking-explained-and-why-its-a-ba">worried</a> because it raises their costs in terms of creating ads that are less intrusive and deemed more acceptable (although this may still not convince the public to view them). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92979/original/image-20150826-32456-17ewzni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92979/original/image-20150826-32456-17ewzni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92979/original/image-20150826-32456-17ewzni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92979/original/image-20150826-32456-17ewzni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92979/original/image-20150826-32456-17ewzni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92979/original/image-20150826-32456-17ewzni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92979/original/image-20150826-32456-17ewzni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92979/original/image-20150826-32456-17ewzni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Apple’s iOS 9 is due to be released later this year and will include content blocking.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Apple</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For Apple, though, the move to allow ad blocking gives iPhone users a better browsing experience at no cost to Apple. Apple makes no money from online advertising through mobile browsing. And, of course, its own ads that are served up through apps are unaffected by ad blocking software. </p>
<p>As a bonus to Apple, the company who <em>is</em> most affected by ads being blocked is Google, which derives <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-ad-blocking-deal-the-final-death-blow-to-already-failing-online-advertising-42600">90% of its revenue</a> from advertising. </p>
<p>Apple is able to increase the level of privacy it offers its customers without directly getting involved itself and risking annoying companies that rely on revenues from advertising. </p>
<h2>The advertisers’ dilemma</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92990/original/image-20150826-32480-16rvpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92990/original/image-20150826-32480-16rvpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92990/original/image-20150826-32480-16rvpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92990/original/image-20150826-32480-16rvpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92990/original/image-20150826-32480-16rvpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92990/original/image-20150826-32480-16rvpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92990/original/image-20150826-32480-16rvpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92990/original/image-20150826-32480-16rvpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many ads can be deliberately deceptive.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Create Meme</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is hard to feel sorry for the advertisers and the sites that resort to displaying targeted invasive ads, such as those sold by Google, Facebook, Yahoo and others. </p>
<p>These ads are designed to target individuals based on information gathered about them as they use the internet. So not only are they annoying, but they are exploiting people’s privacy. Adding insult to injury, the inclusion of ads <a href="http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/e-marketing/adblock-plus-adblocking-network-traffic-172245">slows down web page loads</a> and potentially ends up costing end-users money by using their data allocation. </p>
<p>The argument that content providers are only able to provide content based on the exploitation of their visitors is not a good one because it implies that those visitors signed up to an agreement to view ads in exchange for the content. Of course, users generally do no such thing. And given the explicit choice, might easily opt simply not to visit the site. </p>
<p>Most users don’t necessarily mind being provided with information that allows them to make a reasoned choice about a product when they have decided to buy it. But advertising that tries to persuade a consumer to buy something they weren’t considering buying is a different matter. </p>
<p>Once advertisers do more of the former and less of the latter, perhaps ad blocking will no longer be necessary.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46628/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Glance owns shares in Apple</span></em></p>Online ads are already under pressure from ad blockers, so Apple’s decision to include content blocking in the upcoming iOS 9 will make things even harder for advertisers.David Glance, Director of UWA Centre for Software Practice, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/404282015-06-26T14:48:01Z2015-06-26T14:48:01ZMiniaturisation will lead to ‘smart spaces’ and blur the line between on and offline<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86520/original/image-20150626-1438-rkwu91.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A computer-on-a-stick is the start, but they'll get smaller and smarter yet.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lenovo</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Lenovo, the Chinese firm that has bought up IBM’s cast off PC business, has announced a miniaturised computer not much larger than a smartphone, which can be connected to any screen via an HDMI connection. </p>
<p>Advances in electronic components manufacturing processes and integration have resulted in large-scale miniaturisation of computer systems. This has enabled the latest <a href="http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/overview.jsp?code=TM_RD_PKG_SIP">system-in-package</a> and <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/pc/system-on-a-chip-what-you-need-to-know-about-socs-1147235">system-on-a-chip</a> approaches, where the processor and other necessary functionality usually provided by many microchips can be incorporated into a single silicon chip package.</p>
<p>Lenovo’s <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/24/lenovo-announces-a-130-windows-pc-in-a-stick/?ncid=rss">Ideacenter Stick 300</a> runs Windows 8 or Linux, is powered by a micro-USB connector and comes fitted with a new Intel Bay Trail CPU, 2GB RAM, 32GB flash storage, an SD card reader, Wi-Fi – even speakers.</p>
<p>Lenovo isn’t the first to shrink the PC down to pocket size. Intel’s <a href="http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/04/intels-compute-stick-a-full-pc-thats-tiny-in-size-and-performance/">Compute Stick</a> is another dongle-sized computer with similar specs released this year.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86523/original/image-20150626-1386-x5sqtw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86523/original/image-20150626-1386-x5sqtw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86523/original/image-20150626-1386-x5sqtw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86523/original/image-20150626-1386-x5sqtw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86523/original/image-20150626-1386-x5sqtw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86523/original/image-20150626-1386-x5sqtw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86523/original/image-20150626-1386-x5sqtw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Intel’s Compute Stick is another effort to shrink the PC to pocket size.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Intel</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Raspberry Pi, <a href="https://theconversation.com/upgraded-raspberry-pi-offers-windows-and-linux-the-best-of-both-worlds-37135">now upgraded</a> to its second major release, was probably the first to provide the functionality of a desktop or laptop computer in a credit card sized electronic board. Over five million Raspberry Pi computers have been sold since launch in 2012.</p>
<p>Google has used its stripped-down Chrome OS based on its Chrome browser to reduce a Chromebook (Chrome OS-powered laptop) down to the <a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/03/google-unveils-chrome-stick-turns-display-pc/">Chromebit</a>. While the Chromebit is no larger than a USB memory stick, it’s markedly less powerful than Intel’s offering, as it is powered by the <a href="http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/03/cortex-a17-chips-allow-arm-chromebooks-to-limbo-down-to-149/">Rockchip RK3288</a>, an ARM processor, which makes it comparable in power to a smartphone.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86525/original/image-20150626-1402-yd8wma.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86525/original/image-20150626-1402-yd8wma.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86525/original/image-20150626-1402-yd8wma.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86525/original/image-20150626-1402-yd8wma.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86525/original/image-20150626-1402-yd8wma.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86525/original/image-20150626-1402-yd8wma.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86525/original/image-20150626-1402-yd8wma.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Google’s Chromebit, in more colours than black.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Katie Roberts-Hoffman/Google</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are other stick-sized, computers running low-power ARM processors capable of running Android, such as <a href="http://www.fxitech.com/cotton-candy/what-is-it/">Cotton Candy</a> or <a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/gadgets/portable-video/chromecast-1171126/review">Google Chromecast</a>. These plug into a digital television to play video directly to the TV or from internet streaming services such as Netflix – but not much else.</p>
<h2>The appeal of small</h2>
<p>Computers this small are attractive for many organisations, such as schools and universities who need to equip functional computer laboratories at minimum cost while taking up as little space as possible. Low power devices also consumer less power which keeps costs down. </p>
<p>A typical desktop computer uses about 65-250 watts (plus 20-40 watts for an LCD monitor) – considerably higher than a typical PC-on-a-stick at about 10 watts. There are obvious business uses, such as digital signage and advertising when connected to screens or projectors. </p>
<p>This new round of computer miniaturisation marks a third wave of computerisation. First there were room-sized computers, shared between many users – the mainframe era. These time-sharing systems gradually disappeared as computers were miniaturised, replaced by the one computer per user of the personal computer or PC era. Today one person could have many computers, whether recognisable as desktop and latop PCs or smartphones or compute sticks, but which are accessible everywhere and anywhere. Known as <a href="http://www.ubiq.com/hypertext/weiser/UbiHome.html">ubiquitous or pervasive computing</a>, this is the third wave in computing.</p>
<h2>A smart, mobile future</h2>
<p>As all computing devices grow smaller, the aim is that they are more connected and more integrated into our environment. The computing technology fades into our surroundings until only the user interface remains perceptible to users. It is an emerging discipline that brings computing to our living environments, makes those environments sensitive to us and have them adapt to the user’s needs. By enriching an environment with appropriate interconnected computing devices, the environment would be able to sense changes and support decisions that benefit its users.</p>
<p>There is a growing interest in these <a href="http://www.computer.org/web/computingnow/pervasivecomputing">smart spaces</a> using miniaturised computing technologies to support our daily lives more effectively. For example, smart offices, classrooms, and homes that allow computers to monitor and control what is happening in the environment.</p>
<p>Apple’s <a href="http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/129922-apple-homekit-explained-how-does-it-work-and-what-products-are-homekit-ready">HomeKit</a> and Google’s <a href="https://nest.com/uk/">Nest</a> are a start in this direction, providing the hardware and software to allow home automation. A smart home that monitors temperature and movement could allow elderly to remain self-sufficient and independent in their own home, for example, and voice activated devices could help everyday tasks such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/amazon-dash-is-a-first-step-towards-an-internet-of-things-that-is-actually-useful-39711">ordering the shopping</a>. A smart office could remind staff of information such as meeting reminders. It could turn the lights on and off, or control heating and cooling efficiently. A smart hospital ward will monitor patients and warn doctors and nurses of any potential problem or human errors. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/smart-anything-everywhere">Smart Anything Everywhere</a> vision of the European Commission drives research and development in this area. The evolution and disruptive innovation across the field of computing, from the Internet of Things, smart cities and smart spaces down to nano-electronics – the applications and benefits of greater miniaturisation of computers are endless.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40428/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ahmad Lotfi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Smaller computer are coming to your pocket, and then your homes, your workplaces, and everywhere else.Ahmad Lotfi, Reader in Computational Intelligence, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1732011-03-29T02:03:32Z2011-03-29T02:03:32ZBattle of the browsers: how the web was won<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103/original/browsers.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Chrome is heralded as the fastest browser, but are the others catching up?</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Until a few years ago, there was only one name in the world of web browsing: Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. But now, in 2011, users have more choice than ever when it comes to searching online.</p>
<p>Before I go any further, let me declare a potential conflict of interest: I am an ex-Microsoft software developer. In fact, I bought a house in Seattle from Brad Silverberg, the senior vice president in charge of developing early versions of Internet Explorer.</p>
<p>Vestigial loyalties aside, I have to declare another conflict of interest: I am a Mac user and mainly use Google Chrome as my browser of choice. <a href="http://www.csp.uwa.edu.au/">My centre</a> also recommends Google Chrome to customers using our software. </p>
<p>There has always been one reason for choosing Chrome – it was simply the fastest internet browser around – but that advantage appears to have largely disappeared. </p>
<p>Today’s browser market is dominated by three main players: Google’s Chrome, Internet Explorer, and the <a href="http://www.opensource.org/" title="Open Source Project">open source</a> Mozilla Firefox. A number of smaller players, such as Opera and Apple’s Safari, round out the field.</p>
<p>New versions of the three major browsers have been released in the last month – Chrome 10.5, IE 9 and Firefox 4 – but the release of Firefox was by far the most impressive.</p>
<p>In the 24-hour period following the launch, more than seven million users downloaded the open-source browser. A further eight million downloaded it the following day.</p>
<p>Where previous iterations of Firefox suffered due to poor speed and performance, the release of version four appears to have resolved those issues. </p>
<p>Indeed, with the recent releases of Firefox 4 and IE9, we are more or less at a point where there’s a level playing field between all of the main browsers.</p>
<p>Functionally, they all do what they are supposed to do – display web pages as the developers and designers intended. They can all handle new standards such as <a href="http://diveintohtml5.org/" title="Dive into HTML 5">HTML 5</a> that allow the browser to display video and support native 2D graphics. </p>
<p>All three browsers support various security and privacy features that allow you to control what information a web site can use from your visit.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231/original/Browsers2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/231/original/Browsers2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231/original/Browsers2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231/original/Browsers2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=622&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231/original/Browsers2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=781&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231/original/Browsers2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=781&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/231/original/Browsers2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=781&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Will Google Chrome’s fortunes continue to rise?</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Worldwide, IE has always been the predominant browser in terms of market share, mainly because it came pre-installed on copies of Windows, the predominant PC platform. </p>
<p>But recent US and <a href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:62004A0201:EN:NOT">European anti-trust rulings</a> have opened the browser market quite considerably. In Europe, IE has lost its dominance to Firefox and elsewhere IE is slowly losing users to Chrome. </p>
<p>In the past, IE was slower, less robust and lacked the features of Firefox and Chrome, both of which were innovating faster than IE. </p>
<p>In many ways, Microsoft faces the same challenge with IE as it does with its mobile operating system: it’s not the leader in terms of innovation in either case, it has finally released products that are the technical equivalents of their competitors, but in both areas it has come too late – the market has collectively looked at the Microsoft offerings and said: “Who cares?”.</p>
<p>Making matters worse, IE9 is limited by only being able to run on Windows Vista and Windows 7. Worldwide, Windows XP – a previous version of this operating system – is still used on 55% of all Windows machines. </p>
<p>The proportion of Windows XP in government and other large organisations is even higher, thanks in large part to the global financial crisis having slowed everyone’s appetite for large-scale hardware upgrades. </p>
<p>Without upgrading all of their machines at once, organisations are faced with the limited option of running IE7 or IE8, or to go for Chrome or Firefox.</p>
<p>A final consideration in the issue of browsers on the PC is that an increasing amount of web content is now being accessed from mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets. </p>
<p>In Australia, nearly 6% of all browsing is currently from iPhones, iPads and iPods. In Singapore it is nearly 10%, perhaps driven by the fact that phones, unlike other internet devices, are not filtered in Singapore.</p>
<p>It is predicted that by 2015 web access from mobile devices will exceed that from PCs. The mobile platform world is increasingly dominated by Apple and Google. IE, and to a lesser extent Firefox, are struggling to get a look-in. </p>
<p>And while the mobile browsing landscape continues to expand and develop, it’s clear that a bit of a lull has fallen over the PC-based browsing war. </p>
<p>The introduction of new browser versions is unlikely to change the browser loyalty of most people. People tend to use the browser that comes with their machine unless there is a compelling reason not to do so and increasingly that case is marginal. </p>
<p>Until something dramatic changes though, it will still be Google Chrome for me.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Glance does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Until a few years ago, there was only one name in the world of web browsing: Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. But now, in 2011, users have more choice than ever when it comes to searching online. Before…David Glance, Director of UWA Centre for Software Practice, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.