[ldthorne]

I don't see Chrome going anywhere for a long time, and I don't see Google blocking its own analytics service within its own browser on its own volition.

[ocdtrekkie]

Google may have a hard time continuing to explain away it's refusal to respect user privacy as the sole browser that doesn't block GA. And if the Chrome team continues to fight privacy initiatives, Chrome will be replaced by something like Edge, which is compatible but also actually cares about privacy and security (these two things are the same, if you aren't prioritizing privacy you are not a secure browser).

Regulators will also be paying attention to this over the next few years.

I think a startup should be very aware of these risks if building off of GA.

[Shared404]

I have a hard time believing Edge is any more private then Chrome, it's just a question of who gets the data.

I'd love to be proved wrong on this though.

[ocdtrekkie]

It's weird for you to believe this, because Chrome is made by an ad company whose sole goal in existence is collecting data for ad targeting...

Many of Chrome's features are implemented in Edge by replacing Google services with Microsoft ones. So for many things, Microsoft may be collecting similar data (though likely not monetizing it at all).

But the key thing is that tracking prevention: It means your browser is leaking your data around the internet significantly less. Not just less to Google, but less to almost everyone else on the Internet. Chrome, by refusing to implement tracking prevention, is pretty much a leaky ship with holes in it.

Here's Edge's implementation: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/web-platform...

Here's Firefox's implementation: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-prote...

Here's Safari's implementation: https://webkit.org/blog/7675/intelligent-tracking-prevention...

Chrome has nothing. Google paid some of their staff to write a FUD piece about how preventing tracking was a privacy risk somehow.

[Shared404]

All valid points. Much appreciated.

I was coming from a position of "Why would MS remove anything instead of redirecting it to themselves", but failed to consider that they would be adding things themselves to prevent other tracking.

[ocdtrekkie]

And don't get me wrong, I agree Microsoft is no saint on data collection. I use Firefox and encourage others to do so. But I'd recommend Edge over Chrome because I consider tracking prevention so necessary for safe browsing.

Microsoft's data collection and use seems primarily to be focused on telemetry for product improvement. They obviously do it in Edge too. I find it less malicious than ad targeting, but I'm strongly opposed to mandatory telemetry. And I think telemetry-driven development is a mistake that should be avoided. It dehumanizes software support and still provides incomplete information, while also violating the privacy of your users.