Microsoft Edge is well-known as a browser that possesses many features, tools, and options that make your browsing experience fresh and more convenient. However, a few of them are particularly concerning about privacy.
Not long ago, Edge got into a big scandal after users discovered a bug that leaked browsing history to Bing. Now, Microsoft’s browser platform continues to be discovered planning to release a new update that comes with a feature that allows Edge to take screenshots of each web page that users visit. It’s not a clickbait-like assumption, but Microsoft explicitly states that it wants to screenshot everything users view online.
Microsoft Edge 117, now available for testing in the Canary and Dev channels, has a new toggle called “Save screenshots of site for History”. , with a brief and clear description as follows:
“We’ll take a screenshot of all the websites you visit and save it so you can quickly revisit the site you want from your history.”
Simply put, enabling this feature will allow you to revisit any page in your browsing history without an internet connection. In other words, you have a built-in service that supports offline access. Additionally, you’ll be able to hover your cursor over a web page in the history to preview its thumbnail.
Practically speaking, this feature sounds great and useful. Users will no longer have to download third-party apps or extensions to read web pages offline (something Apple introduced in Safari years ago).
However, Microsoft failed to convince users that their privacy is still guaranteed when using the new feature. No further information about privacy, security, encryption, and other safeguards is put in place to give users peace of mind.
In addition, Microsoft also does not allow users to set exceptions so that the browser does not take screenshots of certain web pages. This is clearly a major shortcoming.
Things will probably be fixed and become more perfect in the future. Fortunately for now, you can turn this feature on or off by navigating to Settings > Privacy and Services . Alternatively, the edge://settings/privacy link can be accessed.