Microsoft Edge seems to be currently facing a major privacy flaw. As first spotted by Reddit user hackermchackface, the latest version of the browser is sending out requests to the Bing API website featuring URLs of sites that you’ve visited.
It’s not yet clear why Microsoft Edge users are currently facing this privacy flaw. However, Microsoft’s director of communications, Caitlin Roulston has indicated that it is currently looking into the matter and that the issue should be addressed soon.
The Verge asked Rafael Rivera, a renowned software engineer to look into the issue. Rafael discovered that the issue was caused by a new Edge feature dubbed creator that’s been poorly implemented.
The software engineer while talking to the Verge highlighted that:
It appears the intent was to notify Bing when you’re on certain pages, such as YouTube, The Verge, and Reddit. But it doesn’t appear to be working correctly, instead sending nearly every domain you visit to Bing.
The feature has been in the testing phase for a while now, up until Microsoft recently started rolling it out to general availability. In essence, the feature was designed to help Edge users quickly and easily follow content creators on social media.
The company does have a master filter for the creator follow feature. It features domains for sites like Pornhub which essentially prevents URLs from being sent out to the Bing API website. Therefore, it seems if you hadn’t unchecked a URL of a site you’ve visited, it’s automatically sent to the website.
To this end, Microsoft is yet to come up with a fix for this issue. You can however head to the browser settings and disable this feature since it’s enabled by default.
Simply head to the Settings page in Edge, click on the Privacy, Search, and Services tab, and then scroll down to Services. Next, toggle off the Show suggestions to follow creators to disable the feature. This way, you’ll be able to maintain your privacy.
via The Verge
