Microsoft Reveals How Tracking Prevention Works in Edge Chromium

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The new Chromium-based Edge browser comes with the Tracking Prevention feature. Intended to keep your privacy and prevent your sensitive data from leaking, it has its own implementation which is different from solutions in other browsers.

Microsoft Edge Chromium BannerIn a new blog post, Microsoft has detailed the changes made to the browser starting in version 79. As of now, Edge 79 is available in the Beta channel. Also, the company considers this version as 'release candidate' for the version that will become generally available on January 15, 2020.

According to the company, their main goal was to block as much trackers as possible without a harm to users' browsing experience. To achieve this, Edge includes a feature known as 'Org Engagement Mitigation'. It detects your engagement with an organization and/or web site, and blocks less trackers on websites you are frequently visiting. Simply speaking, it tracks your activity to detect what should always work for you, and tries to block more trackers on sites you visit not that often.

This new mechanism is activated only when Tracking Prevention is set to 'Balanced'. Setting it to Strict disables the algorithm and tells the browser to block the maximum number of trackers.

Microsoft has also mentioned that they used Strict mode for InPrivate browsing in Edge 78, but this has changed. Current Dev and Canary builds of Edge now follow the same settings as in regular browsing mode, but the user is in control, and can enable Strict mode for InPrivate browsing as well.

Microsoft is currently using three channels to deliver updates to Edge Insiders. The Canary channel receives updates daily (except Saturday and Sunday), the Dev channel is getting updates weekly, and the Beta channel is updated every 6 weeks. The stable channel is also on its way to users. You can find the actual Insider Preview versions at the end of this post. The stable version of Microsoft Edge is expected to be released on on January 15, 2020.

Actual Microsoft Edge Versions

The actual pre-release versions of Edge Chromium at the moment of this writing are as follows:

I have covered many Edge tricks and features in the following post:

Hands-on with the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge

Also, see the following updates.

Source

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Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

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