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Does it have an privacy implications to use the search functionality in the Firefox Address bar?

  • 1 reply
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  • Last reply by philipp

Mountains
Mountains
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In Firefox it is possible to perform a web search directly in the address bar, without having to go to a search engine first. If one choose to use the address bar for search, the preferred search engine one has chosen in Firefox automatically performs the search. However, does this have any privacy implications? Since, if one performs a web search in the address bar, and one has for example Google as default search, will "everything" in the search bar be sent to Google, and not just the normal web searches?

Let me explain better: if one performs a search, the search is sent to Google (or another search engine if one preferres that). But let's say I type "facebook.com" or "support.mozilla.org" and go directly to that page, will this information be sent to Google as well? Making Google or another search engine able to follow one around the web, recording every website one visits? Or is this not the case?

In Firefox it is possible to perform a web search directly in the address bar, without having to go to a search engine first. If one choose to use the address bar for search, the preferred search engine one has chosen in Firefox automatically performs the search. However, does this have any privacy implications? Since, if one performs a web search in the address bar, and one has for example Google as default search, will "everything" in the search bar be sent to Google, and not just the normal web searches? Let me explain better: if one performs a search, the search is sent to Google (or another search engine if one preferres that). But let's say I type "facebook.com" or "support.mozilla.org" and go directly to that page, will this information be sent to Google as well? Making Google or another search engine able to follow one around the web, recording every website one visits? Or is this not the case?

All Replies (1)

philipp
philipp
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hi Mountains, the search engine will only be used as a fallback in the address bar, in case what you have typed does not resemble a valid url...