Comment by Borgz 10 months ago
According to this article, Arc requires an account and sends Google's Firebase the hostname of every page you visit along with your user ID. Does this make Arc the least private web browser currently being used?
Truly. I was looking for a privacy respecting Chromium-based browser to use for Web MiniDisc (https://web.minidisc.wiki/) and came across some enthusiastic praise for Arc. I downloaded it and it immediately wanted me to create an account to even use it. How can that possibly respect my privacy? It went right in the trash.
Another strange thing about the account... They have a little section under "Security" FAQ (lol) that says:
>"Why does Arc require an account to use?"
The answer is:
>"Here's a link to our forum that explains the rationale behind requiring an account to use Arc: Why do I need an account?"
That link goes to here: https://resources.arc.net/hc/en-us/articles/19401542261911-B...
Which... Doesn't explain why you need an account!
They want an easy path to onboard you into paying for stuff.
Windows is practically login-walled[0] at this point so I imagine people are slowly getting to expect it.
[0] witness the magic incantations needed https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/install-windows-11-witho...
I had doubts already when submissions promoting the browser were added on hn while there was no way to see how it looks like or even test it out - for quite some time there was nothing but mail singup on their page.
I guess it's relatively easy to test, add the Firebase domain to your host file and point it to 127.0.0.1 and try to use the browser.
Sometimes things like this handle connection failures better than "never-ending connection attempts", so you might want to try to add a throttle or something too for the traffic between the domain and the browser, might also trip it up.
"Arc is the Chrome replacement I’ve been waiting for." [1]
I guess now we know why they frame it that way.
Chrome does not require an account to use. And Chrome by default doesn't send sites you visit to Google, unless you turn on the "make searches and browsing better" feature or the "enhanced safe browsing" feature.
So the OP is right. Arc's privacy is worse than Chrome.
I trashed Arc immediately after install when I found out having an account was mandatory. That seemed so silly, like toothbrushes-requiring-wifi absurd. How much moreso now.