The privacy practices of Web browser extensions

Abstract

Computer users are spending more time with their Web browsers, due to both improved browser technology and industry efforts to provide first-class support through Web interfaces. Users are therefore motivated to customize and otherwise improve their Web browser experiences through third-party browser extensions; at the same time, these desired extensions are able to monitor and report on users' behavior within their primary Internet interface. In this article we report on the privacy practices of some common Internet Explorer extensions. We find examples of both very good and very bad practices and recommend strategies for respecting privacy in this sensitive area. This work is supported by the Privacy Foundation http://www.privacyfoundation.org and the University of Denver. 2000 University of Denver PRIVACY FOUNDATION 2 I.