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Chrome doesn't magically revert privacy or search engine settings in updates, but Firefox apparently does. To quote from https://drewdevault.com/2017/12/16/Fir
by TAForObvReasons 9y ago
Chrome doesn't magically revert privacy or search engine settings in updates, but Firefox apparently does. To quote from https://drewdevault.com/2017/12/16/Firefox-is-on-a-slippery-slope.html https://drewdevault.com/2017/12/16/Firefox-is-on-a-slippery-... :
> Not only are these experiments enabled by default, but updates have been known to re-enable it if you turn it off.
Chrome has some troubling defaults but Google never decided to flip the default search engine or turn on any phone-home feature once it has been turned off. Even though they had/have the power to do so, they know people won't trust Chrome if they ever tried to do that. In my book that's more trustworthy than a vendor that decides to use updates to surreptitiously enable features that users disabled.
- paulryanrogers 9y agoWhile that may be true, defaults matter too. Even as a privacy conscious techie it's possible to forget the X different settings one must change with each new install or device. And for some dissidents or researchers those defaults could be life or career ending.
- JoshMnem 9y agoI don't think that it can be argued that Chrome is privacy-friendly. There are dark patterns built into the browser.
- j605 9y agoProve it or show code! This statements sounds like a conspiracy theory.
- flyinghamster 9y agoExactly. I ran the beta and when it became the release version, I changed my update channel to "release." It has not reverted any settings I've made. I also had the Shield stuff turned off (my choice), and it hasn't been reverted, nor did the Mr. Robot extension ever show up. I agree, though, that that was a Bad Idea.
- def_true_false 9y agoIf you delete Chrome's shitty preset search engines, it adds them back with every update.