Profile picture of Stephane Hamel
Stephane Hamel
Digital marketing & analytics shaped by data governance, privacy and ethics | Educator · Speaker · Consultant
Follow me
Generated by linktime
March 28, 2025
Did you know LinkedIn is probing your browser for the presence of 1,854 extensions? Yes - one thousand eight hundred fifty-four! This technique is often used for: • Fingerprinting: silently building a unique profile of your device. • Surveillance: detecting if you're using extensions on their "blacklist" - like scrapers, automation tools, or visibility blockers. Why is this a privacy issue? • Under the ePrivacy Directive, accessing anything on your device (including installed extensions) requires your consent. • Principles from GDPR and other global frameworks demand transparency, control, and purpose limitation - none of which are happening here. What can you do? Introducing ProbExtShield - my new browser extension inspired by the research behind CleanedIn: ✅ Warns you when a site is probing your installed extensions ✅ (Optionally) Blocks those invasive requests ✅ Lets you opt-in to anonymously share data to support further research Check out the open-source project on GitHub: https://lnkd.in/ge_r48Fe Fully privacy-first, free to use, and designed to put you back in control.
Stay updated
Subscribe to receive my future LinkedIn posts in your mailbox.

By clicking "Subscribe", you agree to receive emails from linktime.co.
You can unsubscribe at any time.

March 28, 2025