When the map follows you

I recently watched a presentation on how much Google Maps tracks your every move on your Android phone. I've installed OpenStreet-Maps’ OsmAnd to use on an upcoming trip. It doesn’t track you at even a fraction that Google Maps does and you can use it offline. That aside you can now probably guess which browser grabs the most data from you and your phone? According to SurfShark, which has a VPN product, the answer unsurprisingly, is Chrome.

- ■JAMES HEIN

Apparently, the browser collects 20 different pieces of information about you including location, browsing history, contact info, user content, identifiers, usage data, financial data, search history and diagnostics. Of the top 10 browsers they looked at, only Chrome collects financial data. The majority of data is collected by Search and yes you guessed it, Maps.

Bing came in second collecting only 12 different items with Pi at nine and Safari and Firefox with eight types each. The exact data collected varied. For example, most browsers collect location data but only Bing does that to a very precise level. Opera, Pi and Bing also collect data for third-party advertising. Edge, Bing and Pi collect user tracking data that can be used to track where a user goes. Brave and Tor collect the least. Tor collects no data at all. I use Brave as my primary browser and it collects a limited set of data types, specifically identifiers and usage data. Readers may want to consider changing up their primary browsers as well.