Microsoft and its data stealing tales never seem to end. After seeing numerous reports around this issue when the company first released Windows 10 to the public, Microsoft Edge release is also plagued by similar concerns.
According to several users, the company's new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser is sneakily importing data from Firefox without user permission. Users report that this happens even if you shut the process down.
"Love rebooting my computer to get treated to a forced tour of a browser I'm not going to use that I have to force close through the task manager to escape, and then finding out it's been copying over my data from Firefox without permission," a user report reads on Reddit (via Softpedia). Another user responded to the thread:
Yeah, I did not authorize Edge to copy my firefox / chrome data at any point. I've jumped through a lot of hoops in the attempt to maintain some level of privacy with this OS. Finally, it just takes my data without giving me the choice to opt out.
One comment reads:
Unless you close it via task manager instead of doing the forced setup, in which case it copies your data anyway, and the worst part is most people will never know what it's doing because they'll never open it again. I only reopened it because I noticed it automatically signed me into the browser as it was closing and wanted to sign out before not touching it again, at which point I discovered it had already copied my Firefox data over despite the fact I didn't go through the setup process.
At the very least that's intentionally malicious design, setting the default behavior to assume the user has approved if they exit out of the forced setup.
Yet another user asks:
How can I make sure Microsoft Edge has no data? Forced update pulled information from my chrome browser.
Woke up this morning to the forced update.
Edge opened up and asked if I wanted to make it the default browser.
Before I chose yes or no my bookmarks from Chrome were already on the opened Edge browser's bookmarks bar. When I clicked no they disappeared.
How can I be sure Edge didn't save any information? I find it strange that it pulled information from my chrome browser without my permission.
Malicious design or regular Microsoft hiccups?
Obviously no user would want the Windows maker to shove its new browser in their faces. This is an agonizing reminder of the initial Windows 10 update days when things seemed to happen without user permission. It is unclear if this is just an oversight from Microsoft's part, bad code, bad launch, or yet another example of the company tricking more users to its new products.
But, this leads to more worries than just hopping on to a new browser or having Firefox data exported to it without permission. This also means lack of right security tools and adblockers that people may have set up on their parents or kids' devices.
"This is scummy even by Microsoft's usual standards."
"Your parents and grand parents are probably using Edge now," reads a comment from a software developer. "They didn't mean to, they just couldn't seem to get it out of the way unless they agreed to 'Get Started'."
Ugh, I'm now freshly irritated by it because I didn't even think about how I'm going to have to do the rounds for my older relatives who can't always distinguish between legitimate content and camouflaged ads and get them back on the browsers I've set up with adblockers and anti-tracking.
Microsoft is so far saying nothing about these reports. The company had to face several lawsuits and investigations in the aftermath of its Windows 10 rollout. Here is hoping this time the Windows maker sorts these issues out without the involvement of consumer protection watchdogs.
- Earlier: You Can Already Download ISO Files for the Just Released Windows 10 2021 Build 20150
The post Microsoft’s New Chromium-Based Edge Browser Is Reportedly Stealing Data from Firefox Without Permission by Rafia Shaikh appeared first on Wccftech.
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