We’ve all been there – fill out a form for an online shopping spree and tada! Google Chrome magically fills in all your information.
What you don’t see is all the extra information being inputted in the form. Did you know that Chrome still pushes out all the information saved even though it doesn’t appear filled out on the form? This applies for forms where you are even only writing your name and email. This is a huge privacy concern.
Thankfully, there too is an app for that. This neat little demo will help you find out what information is actually being displayed when you fill out random forms online when using Google Chrome.
I decided to give it a try and found out that my name, address, phone and email were being pushed out when entering my name alone (I xx’d some things for my own privacy). This information is being used for marketing purposes without my consent and fed to whomever lies on the other end.
How to fix this
Navigate to your Chrome Preferences > Passwords and Forms > and click on Manage Autofill Settings. From here you will be able to edit/delete any information currently being fed. Do be mindful about credit cards.
You can also download the Autofill Abuse Protection Chrome extension from the Chrome Web store to keep track of what is being shown where. Running the same test with the Auto-Fill demo, I was immediately prompted of the information that was being submitted.
There is also a quick fix available for Safari.
Make sure your information is kept private and you do not allow Google Chrome to autofill for you – you never know who is receiving your information and what they are doing with it.
