Download Disconnect for Web Browsing Privacy

In October, we wrote about “Facebook Disconnect,” an extension allowing users to keep their browsing information private from Facebook (without deleting their Facebook accounts). Now, Facebook Disconnect creator and ex Google engineer Brian Kennish has created one that keeps your information private from more than just the social network.

Kennish watched the Google Chrome extension reach 50,00 active users in just two weeks, according to TechCrunch. It was obvious to Kennish that keeping browsing information private would be a popular trend, and a new opportunity.

The engineer left Google so he could focus his efforts on a new extension called “Disconnect” that will disable third-party tracking software. In other words, random people on the internet won’t have access to your browsing trends and history. The Disconnect extension is currently available for the Google Chrome and Rockmelt web browsers and will be available for Safari and Firefox in the future.

Popular websites like Yahoo, Twitter, and of course, Facebook, use cookies to track your web browsing trends and use that information to apply appropriate advertising to you. If they know what websites you visit often and what interests you have, they can advertise specific products that will appeal to you. It’s a lot like Facebook advertising, except you don’t choose to add your favorite interests and websites; cookies just steal them.

This unintentional sharing of information is what inspired Kennish to move beyond Facebook Disconnect to create the new Disconnect extension. According to TechCrunch, Kennish calls this new extension “a privacy patch for the web.”

The Disconnect extension will not limit your web browsing abilities like other privacy extensions. You will be able to log in to your web accounts without a problem, and you can also control which sites are blocked and which ones aren’t. You will even be able to see the requests for information that are blocked by Disconnect.

I’m sure a lot of people think browsing privacy is overrated since you will have to look at advertisements either way. Although I would rather see advertisements for Call of Duty: Black Ops and the new Coen brothers film “True Grit” than for Covergirl makeup and the new Twilight movie, I would definitely prefer cookie-free web browsing privacy at the end of the day.

Read more about Disconnect and download it here: http://www.disconnectere.com/