privacytests.org

@cyber_veille Working on it! Sorry for the delay

@privacytests Hi Gents, What about your next update? Any date yet? Thx !

Issue 94 of PrivacyTests.org is out today!

We're very pleased to introduce Project Timestamper, an open-source initiative to protect humanity's cultural and scientific heritage from AI forgery. projecttimestamper.org

@CraigHRowland While it's true that some VPNs are tracking users and sharing that data, it's also true of many ISPs. Best to look for a reputable VPN with a strong privacy policy.

@CraigHRowland I believe that's wrong in most cases. Without a VPN, your unique IP address is being sent to every website you visit, and to the many third-party trackers hiding in those websites. For more details on IP-based tracking see: dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.114…

In my professional opinion, using a VPN on a public wifi makes you less secure and less anonymous.

@TimKaraga Hi! That's something I have in mind, but with limited resources I have so far focused on default browsers. I think it's especially important for browsers to fix their privacy leaks because many users don't use a privacy extension.

@privacytests There would be a chance to add browsers with add-ons to the tests, such as ublock origin, Ghostery, NoScript, privacy badger, ClearURLs?

Hi -- the tests don't suggest that "Brave is the most private browser" actually. The situation is more complicated, as you can see if you look through all the categories of tests. I never made any claim about "most private" for any browser. Instead my site reports specific individual privacy tests results across a set of browsers. Readers are free to draw their own conclusions about the big picture, but I don't offer any conclusions. I do agree that the data a browser collects is important: I'm working on automated tests to investigate that kind of collection; I hope to publish results in the future. However: mass surveillance is conducted by tracking on websites done largely by third-party trackers. I believe it's inexcusable in 2025 for a browser to leak data to those trackers.

@privacytests Your tests suggests to an ordinary user Brave is the most private browser (it's not bad I agree) but totally ignores the amount of data itself collects 😂

Many misleading privacy claims and tests like this: privacytests.org/android The biggest problem with browser speed and privacy is the BROWSER ITSELF collecting data. Data collection by websites is ephemeral and can be beneficial to the user.

@GhostLead247 @WixLogo @mozilla @firefox All my manual and automated testing indicates that HTTPS-Only Mode is not on by default in Safari.

@WixLogo @privacytests @mozilla @firefox Fairly sure that is the default setting though.

.@Mozilla, if encryption is our last line of defense, you should be enabling HTTPS-Only Mode in @firefox by default. It's still disabled, even in Private Browsing windows. That means Firefox still makes unencrypted connections to websites without warning users. Look:

@PrivacyandLaws @mozilla @firefox Tor Browser has HTTPS-Only Mode enabled by default.

@privacytests @mozilla @firefox You can't use Tor with https only.

@DanielSolove Broken link -- it should be amazon.com/gp/product/019… 🙂

@mozilla @firefox Here are more details about HTTPS-Only Mode: blog.mozilla.org/security/2020/…

@ProjectRevGame @brave @mullvadnet Hi, the tests are run on each browser out of the box. That means no VPN has been installed. With any browser you can enable the VPN and hide your IP address.

@TechloreInc Congrats!

Technically been longer than 10 years but this is the official date that YouTube clocked. Here's to another 10 years 🥂

@castil11985 I agree with you that telemetry is an important issue; I hope to have tests for that in the future.

@privacytests This is quite misleading, as it doesn't take in consideration that the software itself is anti-privacy, many Browsers gave themselves unlimited right to intercept the user's data, send them to their companies servers, store, analyze and reuse the supposed-to-be private user info.

@CurielCu25535 Yandex mobile is included in the Android and iOS sections.

@privacytests What about Yandex, Ecosia, and Epic browsers??

@YBasally Brave has a Tor mode but it is not enabled by default. You can see the results for Brave Tor mode on privacytests.org/private

@privacytests Brave is not Tor enabled?

@k2_sophie @WireMin Hi! I'm currently focused on browsers, but I appreciate the suggestion!

@privacytests can u test out @WireMin?

So far, Vivaldi has apparently decided to address the tradeoff this way, to leave tracker blocking disabled by default to avoid the risk of a very few sites broken occasionally. That is absolutely their design choice. My tests are reporting that choice accurately. (Note that the public tracker blocklists are continuously updated to fix any breakage, so the breakage at any point in time is very small.) My point about airbags is that enabled by default is a safety principle; we don't rely on drivers to turn them on.

@privacytests i was exaggerating :) but there are some broken sites and as you say, users won't read the details - they won't have any idea how to fix it. how are airbags related? airbags don't make cars not work.

reminder that privacytests is owned by a guy working for brave, and the tests have been SUPER inaccurate in my experience