Microsoft Edge sends almost every web address you visit to the Bing API site. Reddit users have noticed that the latest version of Microsoft Edge sends a request to bingapis.com with the full URL of almost every page the user visits.
Searching for references to this address yields very few results, and no such feature is found in the documentation at all. Programmer Rafael Rivera suggested that sending addresses is part of another, extremely poorly implemented feature of Edge:
“Microsoft Edge now has an author subscription feature that is turned on by default. The purpose was probably to tell Bing when you visit certain pages like YouTube, Reddit, etc. But it doesn’t seem to work properly – the browser sends a link to almost any domain you visit.”
The function is designed to make it easier for the user to track the work of selected content authors on the Internet. It is enabled by default and can easily be turned off – then no addresses will be sent. There is also a filter in the browser, where domains are entered, links to which do not need to be sent (for example, PornHub is the default). It looks like Edge is actually sending all addresses that are not in the list.
Microsoft officials told The Verge that the company is aware of the issue and is working on a solution. For security purposes, the tracking function can be turned off by going to Settings > Privacy, Search and Services > Services > Show suggestions to follow creators in Microsoft Edge.
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