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Digital Privacy And Its Relationship With Ethics – A Complicated Affair

May 29, 2019 / Jennifer P. / Comments Off

One thing about digital ethics and privacy is that many businesses and websites may not be sure of what should be labelled as ethical in terms of privacy. However, in the European Union, the GDPR helps to ensure the guidelines of protecting the data and personal information of users. As the world of technology expands, there may be even more ethical rules and regulations about digital privacy that one should be careful about.

What is Digital Ethics?

Digital ethics is a field of study that is concerned with the shape of technology in current times and how it will affect the social, moral and, the political existence of human beings. Many various terms can be found on digital security, ethics and, privacy on Quizlet.

Some popular topics in the context of digital ethics and privacy 2019 are the following;

Digital monopolies and how to overcome them
Digital Democracy
Can code and speech be considered similar?
Cloud Computing
Autonomous Machinery.

Many a time, ethics and digital privacy have not exactly gone hand in hand. This may be because some companies only gain profit by selling their user’s data to third party companies and businesses for marketing reasons.

This may be where digital privacy acts and regulations come in. These are created in order to ensure user privacy, thus, compiling with ethical factors. Private browsing software such as UR-Browser keeps an updated privacy policy which informs users how and when their data and personal information will be used.

Digital Privacy Acts Over the Years

Although there are different digital privacy acts for different countries, most of them tend to have the same concept and similar rules and regulations.

The Canadian digital privacy act 2015 includes rules of personal data collection. Some of which are, the fact that the user must consent to the whole process prior to the gathering of personal data, the collector must state the purpose of the personal information and when it will be used, protection from financial abuse and, protection from the fraud of any kind. The digital privacy act Section 10 was also amended in 2015.

Privacy acts as such are continuously updated for more efficient information each year. The digital privacy act 2017 was updated for various countries including Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, France, Germany, Israel, the United Kingdom, and, Italy.

Some of these updates consisted of, prevention of invasions of privacy for both online and offline matters, privacy principles for both government and private sector companies that collect the user’s personal information.

Canada

For the privacy act of Canada, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) was updated in 2017 to include specifically what kind of consent is valid for the collection, distribution and, destroying of personal data and information.

The European Union

As for the European Union, one update to its privacy act was the right for the controller to delete all personal data and information if the individual demands so. Moreover, when the purpose of the data has been completed the party who collected this information must remove it permanently.

UR-Browser compiles with all the privacy laws of the European Union, thus proving that it is a perfectly safe browser to use.

Japan

In Japan, privacy laws are from the Act on the Protection of Personal Information (APPI) which was also updated in 2017. Some of the changes included updating of the definition of “personal information”, the introduction of criminal penalties for the misuse of information databases and, the right to privacy has been recognized in the official courts of Japan.

Digital Data Privacy in 2018

2018 is said to be the year that digital privacy and security got extremely real. Its importance increased widely in all types of industries. Digital privacy in 2018 began to receive many new updates and software. Different types of private browsing software and applications were introduced in 2018 as well as improved virtual private networks to hide the location and search history of a user.

Digital Privacy 2019

The time of writing, also 2019, is the most advanced year for digital privacy browsers. Many new and improved digital private browsers and VPNs have been introduced in the market with a very extensive range of features in each one.

For instance, the UR-Browser is not only a completely safe and secure browsing software but also comes with a built-in virus scanner and a virtual private network alongside many other amazing features.

Although technology has increased to extreme heights in 2019, there is still a sense of doubt among many users of the World Wide Web. So much so that around half of the users on the internet believe that complete and utter digital privacy is impossible and cannot be attained even with the use of the best private browsing applications or virtual private networks.

Digital Privacy in The Near Future

It is said across the internet that digital privacy in 2025 will be completely different than what users have seen up until now.

Many users believe that until 2025, a whole privacy rights infrastructure will be created. On the other hand, others believed that by 2025, the concept of privacy in online life will become a taboo subject and will not be understood nor appreciated by further generations.

Digital Privacy Rights – Christian Perspective

Digital privacy rights and ethics are also considered in the Christian religion. Some Christians may believe that the internet is a place of evil while thinking about the questionable material that is available on the World Wide Web. From a Christian perspective, some may accept technology and the internet whilst keeping in mind the positive uses of the internet.

In some cases, some people may believe that privacy was not a big issue in previous times just as it should not be now and that the government and other authorities have the right to access the private information of all internet users for legal purposes.

However, as time goes on, more and more religious perspectives on digital privacy updates are changing in order to meet the changing world and technology.

Secure browser – the necessity of today

March 13, 2019 / Rachel / Comments Off

Are we really safe?

We live in a day and age when a large portion of our lifestyle, social correspondence and everyday routine is determined and governed by the internet. We make our morning coffee and read the daily newspaper on the internet, we go to work and use emails, search engines and browsers, we get ready for bed and set the alarm clocks on our Wi-Fi connected phones. Most of us developed some skills that would seem completely unnecessary 40 years ago. We can type an essay within ten minutes, our language now includes tech-savvy lingo and we can have a one-hour conversation consisting solely of emojis. Needless to say, we feel completely comfortable and safe on the internet. However, one question comes to mind: Are we really as safe as we think we are?

Numerous reports show that the high-level data breaches are experiencing a growing pattern in recent years. Many of us choose to believe that most of these problems hit just large companies or political establishments, but the sad truth is that we are all in danger. More and more individuals are targeted and falling victim to the cyber crime every day, yet most of us choose to neglect the eminent peril that unprotected usage of the internet carries with it. Protecting digital privacy and digital identity has never been harder or more necessary. Cyber crime is more prevalent today then ever before, because of the immense amount of time we spend on the internet. The increase of cyber bullying, credit card frauds and social networking scams, show that we are in deep necessity of secure and privacy-oriented internet browser.

How could secure and privacy browsers protect you ?

Most web browsers use a feature called “third-party cookies”, as well as under-the-radar trackers. Both of these are heavily used to gather information about you. We’ve all been witnesses of recent identity theft issues on the news, as well as misused information from social networks. Many of us tried to just wave it off and continue using the internet like nothing happened. However, once the seed of paranoia has been planted, it just keeps growing. In this case, the paranoia that has set in after some scandals could be a good sign of collective awareness. Identity protection should be among our top priorities when we browse the internet, and our data should be just our own. Secure browsing is the top priority of today, as stealing information via internet has never been this widespread. One of the bright examples of the fight against cyber-crime is the UR Browser. It was created to protect the privacy of every individual that has opted to expand its views and reap the benefits of the internet. This particular browser enables all of its users to surf freely and securely through the internet. Once you’ve started conducting your searches through UR Browser’s private search engines, you can do so without a worry on your mind. It doesn’t use trackers, and it acts as your very own invisibility cloak, so secure browsing is guaranteed.

One of the primary thoughts during the creation of numerous focused browsers is about skipping the middleman. In the case of browsers, the middleman is Chromium’s built-in tracking. Contrary to widespread opinion, Google’s open source code, Chromium does have the built-in tracking, as his closed source brother Chrome, that can potentially allow your personal data to be shared. UR for example, manages to be a fully secure browser, although it is built with Chromium, because the built-in trackers of Google are removed from it. Features such as automatic password filling, prediction text on webpage searches and several others, are somewhat practical and time-saving. However, these particular traits are easy to be tempered with, so saving a few minutes is not worth the potential risk. That is the main reason that UR has these features either disabled, or completely removed. If you want to have even more browser security, this browser has the option of Ninja Mode. This particular mode functions without saving searches, passwords, history or cookies. Any login you make while the Ninja Mode is operational, will be forgotten without a trace once you leave the last opened Ninja tab. Aside from their mandatory features that save your privacy and identity, most privacy focused browsers are equipped with numerous fun features to make your internet-surfing as effortless as possible. Options such as browser personalization and shortcuts for quicker accesses are just valuable addition to make the hours spent on the internet as pleasant as possible.

Online privacy matters!

Keep in mind that the internet is one of the greatest creations of modern times. This seemingly endless source of knowledge and entertainment is available to everyone who have Internet access. Internet enables you to ask virtually any question about any topic, and once you hit the search button, you’ll get thousands of answers and explanations. Furthermore, Internet makes us connect with people who are oceans away. Whether you opt for a live chat or email, you will be able to connect with anyone anywhere in the world in less than a minute. Internet also lets you do your banking and pay your bills without standing in long, tedious queues. The web allows you to do your business online, sell and purchase almost anything you can think of. In the end, the internet reminds you that you are not alone. In the fast-paced world of today we tend to become introverts and forget the people around us. Once the loneliness sets in, the internet can let you know that there are millions of people all over the world, just like you. They share the same interests, same pain and same joy.

Internet gave us so much, but at the same time, it made us be vulnerable. It gave the monsters a bigger forest to hide in and it gave the tricksters a bigger field to play on. Now, more than ever before, it is our duty to protect ourselves and the people we love. Privacy focused UR Browser is the proper answer to internet scammers and frauds. It is the modern solution to a modern problem.

Privacy matters

Preserving your digital identity means using a secure browser

February 26, 2019 / Jennifer P. / Comments Off

When Leonard Kleinrock wrote his “Information Flow in Large Communication Nets” paper, back in 1961, he probably couldn’t have imagined what he was starting. The bold idea of this famous visionary put the wheels of history into motion, so today we have this glorious web of information and entertainment that connects us all. In between 2000 and 2009, the number of active internet users went from 194 million to whopping 1.858 billion all over the world. This huge network of networks called the internet has quickly become an integral part of our every-day lives.

The vast majority of people have at least some kind of online presence. Even the smallest specs of information on the internet, leaves a virtual footprint that can eventually point in the direction of the person who made it. Needless to say, preserving personal data and saving your digital identity from misuse is of utmost importance. The ability to interact online without endangering or sacrificing your personal privacy is vital to the future of the internet as a network that connects the world. Whether you keep your digital privacy or disclose your personal information with anyone, should be your own conscience choice. This issue raises more issues, such as the matter of the level of conscience of children whose parent let them use the internet freely and without any control. It has become very easy for anyone to use the advantages of the internet for malicious purposes. From identity thefts to social security frauds, it is clear that we should all start giving more thought to secure browsing and safety of our privacy in general. It may sound silly, but a proper privacy focused browser could save your life.

Secure browsers, the modern solution to a modern problem

Secure browsers, such as UR Browser, offer an array of carefully thought and developed features. Proper security browser doesn’t use third-party cookies and trackers that could collect your information for advertising purposes. Unsecured browsers are prone to sneaky advertisement and pop-up ads, that could ultimately ruin your internet experience completely. Most of the secure browsers also offer advance private browsing features. With already mentioned UR Browser this particular feature is called the Ninja Mode. These features basically enable you to surf completely incognito, so the passwords, browsing history or searches don’t get saved. Furthermore, the secure browser will always alert you to potentially malicious websites and redirect you to a more safer internet environment. In addition to this, all of your downloads are checked against know threats as malware and viruses and you can usually count on a variety of interesting features that can make you time spent on the internet even more carefree and enjoyable. Options such as personalization of your browser and quick accesses to your favorite websites are just an icing on the cake when it comes to useful traits of the secure browsers.

Each of these secure browsers has a mission to keep you and your precious information safe. Most of them are built as special ecosystems, with incentives and handy features. Though all secure browsers differ among themselves, their mutual aim is to “heal” the current state of the web. The best you can do is to thoroughly protect yourself and your family. Now that we’ve mentioned family, it is very important to consider that not all members of one household are equally tech-savvy. That is why it is also important to think about the appearance of the browser. Everyone should be able to use it easily and without difficulties. UR Browser, for example, has a very “clean-cut” look, without flashy and distracting colors, so it is convenient and easy to navigate. Elegant design and concise instructions make it a perfect fit for everyone, and that should be one of the main features too look for among privacy focused browsers.

The internet, one for all

Because of its numerous uses, the internet has become virtually all-encompassing. It is the largest knowledge database and ecommerce hub, but most importantly – it is where we connect. Our Email accounts have seemingly endless storage capacities, and the number of information exchanged there, as well as their value, can’t be measured. On the same note, identity protection comes to mind once again. The internet offers some of the most efficient means of communication, through apps, social networks, instant messages, blogging websites and more. Basically, whether you just want to chat with someone while you sip your morning cup of Joe, or you want to express your inner self, internet is the perfect place to do it. As far as the communication goes, it offers a platform for any kind of communication imaginable. Every platform we ever visited through an unsecure browser, has kept some kind of trace of our visit. Yet somehow, we still dear to disregard the benefits of our browser security and surf the web unprotected.

Aside from being an unlimited source of all kinds of information and making our lives easier, the internet also brought new kinds of perils which we are now forced to face. Loads of illegal and inappropriate material circulates through the internet every day. The number of computer viruses and their intricacy has been worrisome for a while now. The addiction to social networks is also becoming a prevalent problem among young people in recent years. In addition to all of these problems, illegal download of music and other copyrighted content for free, has set back the music industry severely and lead to a large number of serious lawsuits. Keep in mind that this is a minority of the consequences that the unsecure usage of the internet has led to. Secure browsers, such as UR Browser, are a necessity. The internet is intertwined with all of our daily activities, and it is our job to protect ourselves and the people we love.

Maybe the best indicator of the prevalence and power of the internet, is the existence of cyber psychology. The development of a completely new branch of psychology speaks volumes about how all-consuming and potentially dangerous the internet can be. Revise your online identity protection today, so you don’t have to worry tomorrow.

Privacy matters

Small team, great achievements and even bigger ambitions for 2019!

January 16, 2019 / Jennifer P. / Comments Off

2018: Guerrilla Anti-Tracking and Embedded Virtual Private Network Shielding

We are still a start-up and even though we are a small team, and do not always get to address all your messages and needs, they do concern us and we do listen to them! Thank you for that!

We are sharing all of them with our product team who is prioritizing each of those along with our planned features and improvements, so that they will be eventually addressed.

For the past year, we had to reduce the communication efforts in favor of focusing more on the product and achieving some major milestones:

Improve stability and security with UR 61 release, (do we want to link to an old version in this post vs. just having a reference to it in plain text?) adding anti-fingerprinting capabilities and improving the HTTPs enforcing;
Introduce a unique feature in the browser: a full VPN client with UR 62, not only to protect the browser traffic but all your device’s traffic;

We will not talk about the first one as we already have on the blog and it’s already too old, we are already working to bring UR to Chromium 71.

We do want to share with you more about the latest VPN feature and why we considered it such an import part of the puzzle.

Why does a browser need a VPN?

For those of you who are not aware of what a VPN is and why you should use one here is a short intro.

By its’ meaning a Virtual Private Network is an internet security service that allows users to access the Internet as though they were connected to a private network. This encrypts the Internet communications as well as providing a strong degree of anonymity. Some of the most common reasons people use VPNs are for location anonymity, the right to online privacy, to protect against snooping on public Internet connections, to circumvent Internet censorship, or to connect to a business’s internal network for remote work purposes.

Generally, when users create an Internet connection to visit a website or to access an online service, most Internet traffic is unencrypted and very public. The device that initiates the request through a browser or another app, will connect to their Internet Service Provider (ISP), and then the ISP will connect to the Internet to find the appropriate web server to fetch the request website or service. Information is exposed with every step of the Internet request. The IP address is exposed throughout the process, the ISP and any other intermediary can keep logs of the user’s browsing habits and interests. Moreover, the data flow between the user’s devices and the webservers is unencrypted, which creates opportunities for malicious actors to spy on the data or perpetrate attacks on the user, such as a man-in-the-middle attack.

When using a trusted VPN service to connect to the Internet, users gain a higher level of security and privacy by:

The VPN client connects to the ISP by creating an encrypted connection
The ISP connects the VPN client to the VPN server, maintaining the encrypted connection
The VPN server decrypts the received data from the user’s device and then connects to the Internet to access the web server in an unencrypted communication, exposing only the IP address of the VPN server and masking users’ IP

This is known as a ‘VPN tunnel’ the encrypted connection between the VPN Client and VPN server passes through the ISP, blocking the ISP and/or malicious actors from seeing a user’s activity.

Beware, VPN and Proxy extensions are not enough!

In the past UR explored, as did other competitors, the so-called ‘VPN extensions’ or ‘proxy-extensions.’ They offered a similar service as a VPN but with a few important drawbacks like: not fully encrypted communications and solely browser request protection, excluding by its tech limitations the requests issued by any other apps running on the device. A potential negative effect of this lack of coverage could be – the location was masked while surfing websites w

ith UR, yet other local apps/services would expose user’s location when communicating with their servers on the Internet. To avoid such scenarios users would have had to subscribe in addition, to other VPN services, requiring the installation of an additional software: a VPN client.

We stopped that type of service a while ago when such weaknesses surfaced. However, many players in the space continue to proposes ‘proxy-like’ features advertised as VPNs, while not offering true VPN protection.

Leveraging open-source, with the power of Open VPN and a great partnership (don’t want to promote another solution and took out the links), we have built a powerful and multi-faceted privacy took that combines the utility of a browser with the protection of a VPN.

In addition to standard private browsing features, UR Browser now offers the same level of protection as other stand-alone VPN clients. And as usual, we’ve made it extremely simple to use so that not only tech savvy users can benefit from it.

If this solution is appealing to you, check it out now ! (currently available only for Windows)

2019: Let the real privacy battle begin!

Still in beta but improving rapidly, here are some key updates you can expect from UR in 2019:

The latest Chromium patches (on Windows, and as soon as possible on Mac too)
Upgraded privacy and anti-tracking features
An improved browser anti-fingerprinting technology (more on browser anti-fingerprinting here)
A bunch of under-the-hood and functional fixes (for example online streaming services and translations services had been disabled due to privacy concerns, now will become optional)
A VPN build for Mac
New features like secure account synchronization, improved bookmarks and offline web content management
Integrated private Search engine

We are considering opening our source code too while mobile and Linux versions are in planning as well, and should go into development later this year.

These are some of our resolutions for 2019, wish us good luck to achieve the most!

May you have a happy, successful and more private year!

January 11, 2019 / Jennifer P. / Comments Off

We should all be aware by now that 2018 was a watershed year for digital privacy and data protection, marked by one Facebook or Google scandal after another.

Leading with Facebook Cambridge Analytica fiasco, Mark Zuckerberg’s congressional testimony, a massive hack, and revelations of corporate smear campaigns were only the tip of the iceberg. (Refer also to: A bug may have exposed the unposted Facebook photos of millions ; Facebook is using your two-factor-authentication phone number to target ads ; Facebook has been collecting call history and SMS data from Android users; UK Parliament publishes Facebook secret documents showing ‘whitelisting’ firms in return for access to data)

The Facebook privacy issues revealed last year should not overshadow other important revelations like: Strava’s heat map exposing military locations; The giant Marriott hack or Google’s already obsolete Google+ bug that may have exposed private data from millions to its third-party apps;

It’s important to acknowledge the above and understand that some tech companies, and unfortunately some of the most trusted ones, not only harvest gazillions of users’ data but also employ flawed systems to use, share and profit from it. The zenith of privacy invasion played out in a report that alleged both Facebook and Google partnered with banks and bought financial data in secret, trying to get access to yet another sensitive category of private user information.

The aforementioned tech companies, and many other less well known, put their profits before your privacy, and actually built business models that demanded it. In addition, there is nothing FREE and we the users are often the product being monetized. By itself there is nothing wrong with a consumer getting a free service and enabling profit for the service provider through some element of behavior and/or identity, as long as the profiting entity makes disclosures around business practice, doesn’t abuse the user’s trust by violating their own terms, and has no hidden tradeoffs that a user only finds out about after the fact.

So, what is next for 2019? It could continue with other giants like Microsoft, Amazon or Apple, especially with the latest digital assistant trend, but at this point it would only be speculation.

In any case, we should keep protecting our devices and be aware of which free or paid services we use. Put simply, we must be aware of and take action around our own digital identity.

To that end, great things happened as well, in the context of privacy, during 2018. Moreover, we salute and support initiatives like Europe’s GDPR law, trying to get back more privacy for consumers, but currently far from perfect in practice. It is still worth supporting and following how it will succeed in combating the most sophisticated tracking methods, like browser fingerprinting. Besides the European Union, many publications and organizations, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, started drawing attention to the ways Google, who owns the most used browser and largest tracking network in the world, uses its power to protect its own interests rather than protecting its users.

The good and the bad around privacy, in 2018, further validated the need for privacy awareness and tools, therefore fueling our conviction around UR Browser, including the addition of more simple-to-use privacy features.

UR Browser update for MacOS

May 3, 2018 / Rachel / Comments Off

The core of your favorite browser, URBrowser, has just been updated to Chromium 61 also FOR MacOS! Continue reading

When its free, you’re the product!

March 30, 2018 / Rachel / Comments Off

In case you didn’t know yet, the Google and Facebook business model is based on the exploitation of your personal data for the purpose of advertising targeting. When it’s “free “, you are the product! Continue reading

28 fake advertising agencies causing forced redirections!

March 30, 2018 / Rachel / Comments Off

Scams of all kinds multiply on the web, from now classic Viagra to Windows pop up inviting you to clean your PC urgently. The organization of the culprits is gets increasingly sophisticated. Continue reading

Chrome further strengthens its dominance.
When shall we have
a countervailing power?

March 30, 2018 / Rachel / Comments Off

The January 2018 figures compiled by Net Applications and relayed by Computer World show us that Internet Explorer, Edge (Microsoft) and FireFox (Mozilla) have again lost ground against the now hegemonic Google browser: Chrome. Continue reading

Your computer is infected ! Call Microsoft.

March 30, 2018 / Rachel / Comments Off

If you frequently use Chrome on your Windows PC, you may have already seen a page during a surfing session telling you that your computer was infected, that your browser was blocked, and that in desperation there was only one thing left for you to do: Call Microsoft! Continue reading

UR Browser Blog

Privacy and security with UR Browser

Page 3 of 9

Secure browser – the necessity of today

Are we really safe?

How could secure and privacy browsers protect you ?

Online privacy matters!

Preserving your digital identity means using a secure browser

Secure browsers, the modern solution to a modern problem

The internet, one for all

Small team, great achievements and even bigger ambitions for 2019!

Why does a browser need a VPN?

2019: Let the real privacy battle begin!

UR Browser update for MacOS

When its free, you’re the product!

28 fake advertising agencies causing forced redirections!

Chrome further strengthens its dominance.
When shall we have
a countervailing power?

Your computer is infected ! Call Microsoft.

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