Can one browser snoop on activity in another, assuming good security software is running (I just switched from Norton to Sophos)? I want to separate my Google activity from other things, so I'm considering running G things (gmail, Drive, Play Music) in Chrome only, and do all my other browser stuff in Firefox. Will that help keep Google off my tail in Firefox activity? I have done all I can to limit tracking with opt-out settings and the extension offered by Google, Firefox and other ad/tracking prevention means, but I don't trust them to keep their paws off other activity in a browser where I'm running their apps. Thanks for any thoughts on this. (Windows 10)
📎 AI Summary:
The thread discusses whether one browser can snoop on activity in another, with the consensus that browsers generally do not do so unless through extensions, which could potentially be malicious. The original poster plans to separate Google-related services to Chrome and other browsing to Firefox to reduce tracking and seeks reassurance on privacy concerns. The overall view suggests that browser-to-browser snooping is unlikely and heavily discouraged, though extensions pose a possible security risk.
The thread discusses whether one browser can snoop on activity in another, with the consensus that browsers generally do not do so unless through extensions, which could potentially be malicious. The original poster plans to separate Google-related services to Chrome and other browsing to Firefox to reduce tracking and seeks reassurance on privacy concerns. The overall view suggests that browser-to-browser snooping is unlikely and heavily discouraged, though extensions pose a possible security risk.
Solution
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2015
- Messages
- 8,995
They certainly have the potential and do have some functionality that sort of does (generally only to allow importing bookmarks). Usually browsers do not snoop data from other browsers. The browser makers would likely get raked over the coals on the internet by security researches if they did. This does not extend to browser extensions which could potentially be malicious and steal data.
I have the extensions under control with security software. (On its first scan, Sophos complained about chrome.exe because of a snag in one of the extensions.) It does seem likely that browsers sniffing in other browsers would get deluged with negative attention. On the other hand, it seems there are new atrocities every day.
Thanks for your feedback.