Not Everyone is Pleased with Google's Changes to Chrome

Chrome 70 is a perfect example of how divisive technology can be. A few of the changes have people excited about some benefits to security, but others are concerned that Chrome will no longer be as secure or as user-friendly. Below we'll review some of the changes coming with Chrome 70 and you can decide for yourself.

Extension Restrictions
While Chrome’s biggest advantage is probably its considerable library of add-on extension programs, security concerns that have frequently popped up in these extensions have led Google to pump the brakes a bit and implement some new requirements. For example: with cryptocurrency becoming such a huge topic, many extensions dedicated to mining and even cryptojacking popped up. Google is now shutting these supplemental programs. Moreover, Google is going to hold developers in general to a higher standard, requiring their accounts to be secured by two-factor authentication and putting those extensions that require ample permissions, or feature code that is hosted remotely, under closer inspection. 

Security Measures
Along with placing extra restrictions on its extensions, Chrome 70 has a few additional security tricks packed in, including measures meant to stymie phishing attacks and protect the end user from their influence. Chrome 70 is also going to push education of its native password management tools. Instead of confirming that a URL is secure to access, Chrome will warn users when one is not. This reinforces that more websites should be secure than aren't secure. 

Login Concerns
Not all of these changes have been met with excitement. One change especially alarmed many users when it appeared: previous versions of Chrome have allowed users to access Chrome without logging into the browser but some users have noticed that Chrome now appears to log a user in, even if they are only using a single service.

The significant concern with users here is that Google could potentially now share a user’s data, like their browsing history, something that the previous status quo didn’t require. Nevertheless, Google has announced that this isn’t an indication that Chrome has been logged in to, it is actually a kind of “in-between” alert to inform a user of which of their accounts are currently logged in.

Naturally, as we spend more time with Chrome 70, more aspects we like will emerge, as well as things we don’t like. If you’ve used Chrome 70, what do you think about it? Share your thoughts in the comments!