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Browser Privacy Test

Test your browsers privacy against several important metrics.
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This page uses different techniques to test the current state of the privacy of your browser while surfing the internet. If you have plugins or extensions related to privacy, please first enable them and then reload this page to see the privacy score of your browser.

Overall Privacy Score

/
100

Privacy Metrics

MetricStatusScore
WebRTC leaked10
Cookies enabled
Plugins enabled......
Referrer enabled5
Hyperlink auditing5
Navigator tracking......
JavaScript enabled5
GeoLocation permission5
Microphone permission5
Camera permission5
Flash enabled5
IP addressShowN/A
Popup blocker
Font fingerprintComputeN/A
Canvas fingerprintComputeN/A
WebGL fingerprintComputeN/A
AudioContext fingerprintComputeN/A
Description

What is privacy test?

Privacy Test is a web application that calculates the privacy score in your browser. There are several metrics in this app that compute scores related to privacy in different areas. Scores are then accumulated to generate an overall score (shown at the top). The maximum privacy score is 100, and your score is shown as, for example, (30 / 100) meaning your browser is currently 30% percent secure in terms of privacy. Some scores are directly shown in the UI, while others need a user action (such as IP address, popup blocker and fingerprints). For example, for IP address; when you click on the show button a new tab will be open that renders your IP address; now, if it is different than your real IP (i.e. if you have a VPN or proxy), then add +15 to the overall score. Meaning your overall privacy score is increased by 15 percent if you have a VPN or proxy installed in your browser. Please read below to get more info about this web application.

What metrics are available in privacy test app?

Currently there are 17 metriocs avaible in this aweb application. Each metric, depending on its improttant related to privacy, has a different scrioe. From top to bottom we have:

  1. WebRTC Leak - shows you if your browser is leaking your real IP address through WebRTC API. If the leak is protected it adds +10 to the overall score. Please note that, in the status column, cross sign (✕) means webrtc leak is protected.
  2. Cookies enabled - monitors the Cookie API in your browser and if it is disabled, it increases the privacy score by 5%. Similar to the above metric, the cross sign means the cookie is disabled.
  3. Plugins enabled - measures whether you have plugins installed in your browser or not. It is clear that not all plugins are bad, but differentiating a good from the bad one is a rather hard task. Therefore, simply removing the plugins in your browser might be a good idea for increasing online privacy. Here we assigned a 5% share for plugins in terms of privacy.
  4. Referrer enabled - measures the referrer property in your browser (current tab only). In general, when you click a link on a webpage, a referrer is added to the page properties. The new website can then read that property and knows where you are coming from. If you can block the referrer in your browser (through an add-on or internal settings) then your privacy will be increased by 5%. For this metric to work correctly, please open this web app from the homepage so the referrer can be added to the page properties.
  5. Hyperlink auditing - is another metric that is not good for privacy in general. When you click on a hyperlink, some websites add a - ping - method to the hyperlink so that they can track users when they click on a link on their website. This metric here will measure this behavior and increases your privacy if Hyperlink Auditing is disabled in your browser. You can disable this feature in your browser through an add-on or via internal settings (please read the next section to get more info about available options to increase your privacy).
  6. Navigator tracking - is related to a property called - doNotTrack. When this option is enabled in your browser it will tell websites that the user does not like to be tracked through analytics scripts. If navigator tracking is disabled in your browser, your privacy score will be increased by 5%.
  7. JavaScript enabled - is related to the core javascript support in your browser. Of course, when this feature is disabled, many websites will have difficulty to load correctly but, on the other hand, it might have some privacy concerns as bad actors usually use some sort of JavaScript code to damage your online privacy. Therefore, when you disable Javascript (when possible) your privacy score potentially can be increased by 5%.
  8. GeoLocation, Microphone and Camera permissions - are another metric to measure privacy score. In general, these sensors are safe to use as they require user action, but sometimes you might set them to not ask any permissions or they might be enabled by default in your browser which is not good for online privacy. Therefore, this web application will check the permissions related to there metrics and if the permission is set to - prompt- or - denied - it will incase your privacy score by 5% for each metric. Please note that you can change the permission for each of these metrics from your browser settings page or through a third-party plug-in.
  9. Flash enabled - is the next metric to measure for privacy. Flash in general as suggested in many studies is not good for online privacy. Therefore, if you decide to disable Flash in your browser your privacy can potentially be increased. This web application will add +5 to the overall privacy sore if you have disabled Flash in your browser.
  10. IP address - is one of the important factors in online privacy. If you can hide your real IP address through a third-party plug-in, then your online privacy can be increased as web servers can not track you while you are surfing the internet. Many VPN (or similar) services can hide your real IP address; if you decided to, please use one of these services and then click on the - Show - button next to this metric. A new tab will be open to show you your visible IP address. If this IP is different than your real IP (when the VPN is not enabled) then increase your privacy score by 15%. Please note that the value 15 should be added manually to the overall privacy score.
  11. Unwanted popups - are another culprit in online privacy. Popups, in general, are bad for privacy as they might contain bad scripts or malicious hyperlinks that users might click on. Therefore, blocking unwanted popups can potentially increase your online privacy. If you decided to block popups through a plugin or your browser settings, please add 5% to the overall privacy score. Similar to the above metric this value cannot be added automatically as the popup blocker feature needs to be examined manually. To do so, please click on the - Test - button here to open the dedicated web app for the popup blocker test. Follow the instructions in the web application to test the popup blocker capability in your browser. If you are satisfied with the results, then add 5% percent to the overall privacy score.
  12. The rest 4 metrics are related to the browser fingerprints. Digital fingerprints, in general, can be used to track users as you are surfing the internet. They can identify you with a unique hash code that is generated through some internal Javascript properties. Therefore if you can hide your real fingerprint, it can potentially increase your online privacy. Please click on the - Compute - button for each fingerprint (Font, Canvas, WebGL and AudioContext), then read your fingerprint ID. Now reload the page or restart the browser and read the fingerprint ID again; if the new value differs from the previous one, then you could successfully hide your real fingerprint ID. Please note that there are many add-ons for spoofing digital fingerprints (read below section to get more info). Please install one and then click on the - Compute - button to see the results. If any of the fingerprints here are successfully spoofed, then add 5% to your overall privacy sore.

How does this app estimate the privacy score for each metric?

First, we are NOT claiming to have - the perfect tool - to measure your online privacy at all. The privacy score here is just a rough estimation of your real privacy score. Several other important privacy metrics are not present here, or we couldn't implement them yet. So, please use this web app for illustrative purposes only and do NOT rely on the privacy sore at all. Always use other websites, software or plugins to measure your privacy too.

The scores here are estimated through several tests and also considering the importance of each metric. For example, since the IP address is very important for online privacy, we assigned a 15% share for this score. Or, WebRTC which has a 10% share from the overall score. Some other scores are less important (i.e. referrer, hyperlink, etc.), therefore only 5% share is assigned to them. In total, all the score shares should be summed up to 100%. As mentioned above, we do NOT claim to have a solid measure for each metric; and one might decide to alter these score shares depending on their study or knowledge about each metric. By showing these scores we only meant to increase public awareness about online privacy. These scores are NOT representing your real privacy score at all and do NOT provide you any privacy protection at all. It simply is an illustrative measure of your online privacy and only warns you if you have not heard about any of these metrics before. Also, please note that these are not the only privacy metrics available for your browser. Several other important metrics are not implemented or have not found yet. So, please check this web app periodically to see if any new privacy metric is added or not. Also, please use other methods such as third-party software, plugins or websites to check and measure your online privacy.

Are there any softwares or plugins which I can use to increase my online privacy?

Yes, there are many add-ons or plug-ins which you can add to your browser to increase your online privacy. Please head to Chrome, Opera or Firefox web stores and then search for the - privacy - keyword. From the list of found addons, install the one which matches your need, for example spoofing fingerprints, blocking WebRTC leak, etc. Also, please always use a browser which is best for privacy. Read the below blog posts to get more info.

Related Blog Posts

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  2. The Best Privacy and Security-Focused Web Browsers: The truth is that the web browser which one uses knows a lot about them. For example, it knows which sites one visits. However, the question is which are the best browsers for privacy...
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