Apart from AI, does deleting web browsing history do anything? I use Apple products. An Apple agent once told me to always delete my browsing history at the end of the day and shut down my computer. Is deleting browsing history just a futile exercise, esp now that AI is embedded in browsers? Same question for Comet and Atlas browsers.
Thanks! I do use incognito most of the time but have also heard people incognito is nothing but a facade for the browser's company. Meanwhile, the browsers say no history is stored because I'm in incognito mode. Which is true?
I mostly use incognito with VPN. Doesn't using VPN help also?
(Problem is, more and more sites now are making it impossible to reach their site unless I disconnect VPN. I understand they don't want malicious attacks but when I have to drop my VPN connection so often, having VPN itself becomes pointless.
VPN is great for keeping your browsing history away from your ISP.
And you are correct - more websites are refusing or not working well with VPNs. I've predicted for a while this trend will accelerate. VPNs will eventually become regulated in countries that would have seemed impossible just a few years ago. the UK is talking about banning them.
You could argue overly permissive cookie sharing is minimized, or that it could minimize the impact after a breach on your phone, sure. At that point I’d just use incognito. The data is always stored on your device, and the end point. Clearing your data out doesn’t affect the endpoint. (and all the hops along the way if it wasn’t encrypted)
Regularly restarts (maybe not daily, personal preference) is good. Some malware favors stealth over persistence, so it doesn’t write to file and exists only in memory. A hard restart will wipe it.
Agents browsers are the most invasive because for them to give enough context to the agent for it to be helpful, it needs to send everything it sees and reads (and what you type)
This guide nails what many people miss about AI privacy. The gap between what’s promised and what’s actually logged. It's crucial to understand that there's a difference between “we don’t train on this,” whch doesn't necessarily mean “we don’t collect this.” Good piece.
Thanks for the tips. I just turned off data retention on chatgpt and perplexity. Never occurred to me that I could do it. I mostly just do random searches anyway but any privacy is welcomed.
Would you use Comet or Atlas browsers? I've stayed away from them for now because I just don't know enough about their safety but curious about what your approach would be.
There are some very good use cases for them. For example, you are doing deep research on a new topic for Substack. You have dozens of tabs open, and want an agent to bring it all together, find common trends and patterns, maybe conflicting reports. Great! Atlas works.
But I won’t be logging into my Gmail or authenticating into social medias within the browser.
Not to worry though, changes are chrome will be an agent browser soon enough hahah. I think it’s going to be the next trend.
We went over a lot in this one. Feel free to ask me of Secrets of Privacy any follow up questions!
Apart from AI, does deleting web browsing history do anything? I use Apple products. An Apple agent once told me to always delete my browsing history at the end of the day and shut down my computer. Is deleting browsing history just a futile exercise, esp now that AI is embedded in browsers? Same question for Comet and Atlas browsers.
Hope that answers the question. Feel free to follow up!
Well Google did get sued for still storing and collecting all incognito data. I think of incognito as “erase my cookies” and that’s about it lol.
VPN are good, but also preach their solutions offer so much more than they do.
Effectively with HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security) all your connections are encrypted and safe these days.
You actually add complexity and a layer of trust between you and the vpn provider.
They are mostly good to hide what websites you are visiting.
If you are dealing with someone who is getting through your TLS1.3, the vpn company isn’t getting in their way hah.
Thanks! I do use incognito most of the time but have also heard people incognito is nothing but a facade for the browser's company. Meanwhile, the browsers say no history is stored because I'm in incognito mode. Which is true?
I mostly use incognito with VPN. Doesn't using VPN help also?
(Problem is, more and more sites now are making it impossible to reach their site unless I disconnect VPN. I understand they don't want malicious attacks but when I have to drop my VPN connection so often, having VPN itself becomes pointless.
Thanks a lot for answering these questions.
VPN is great for keeping your browsing history away from your ISP.
And you are correct - more websites are refusing or not working well with VPNs. I've predicted for a while this trend will accelerate. VPNs will eventually become regulated in countries that would have seemed impossible just a few years ago. the UK is talking about banning them.
Essentially futile.
You could argue overly permissive cookie sharing is minimized, or that it could minimize the impact after a breach on your phone, sure. At that point I’d just use incognito. The data is always stored on your device, and the end point. Clearing your data out doesn’t affect the endpoint. (and all the hops along the way if it wasn’t encrypted)
Regularly restarts (maybe not daily, personal preference) is good. Some malware favors stealth over persistence, so it doesn’t write to file and exists only in memory. A hard restart will wipe it.
Agents browsers are the most invasive because for them to give enough context to the agent for it to be helpful, it needs to send everything it sees and reads (and what you type)
An absolute solid post.
Appreciate it! It was super great to work with Secrets of Privacy. Highly recommend if you get the chance.
This guide nails what many people miss about AI privacy. The gap between what’s promised and what’s actually logged. It's crucial to understand that there's a difference between “we don’t train on this,” whch doesn't necessarily mean “we don’t collect this.” Good piece.
Really glad you liked the piece! I think we agree here, education users on privacy is crucial with all these new tools.
We're several years away from any proper regulation.
Thanks for the tips. I just turned off data retention on chatgpt and perplexity. Never occurred to me that I could do it. I mostly just do random searches anyway but any privacy is welcomed.
100% love to hear this. I think both Secrets of Privacy and I consider it a huge win when we can move the needle towards privacy!
This is a great post!
So glad you liked it!
Would you use Comet or Atlas browsers? I've stayed away from them for now because I just don't know enough about their safety but curious about what your approach would be.
There are some very good use cases for them. For example, you are doing deep research on a new topic for Substack. You have dozens of tabs open, and want an agent to bring it all together, find common trends and patterns, maybe conflicting reports. Great! Atlas works.
But I won’t be logging into my Gmail or authenticating into social medias within the browser.
Not to worry though, changes are chrome will be an agent browser soon enough hahah. I think it’s going to be the next trend.
Cool. Thanks for the reply! It's super helpful to know the boundaries of what safe looks like.
They definitely aren’t “unsafe”, just need to be security and privacy minded. Simplest way to think of using them is like a library computer!