Microsoft Edge Hijacks Users’ Sessions On Google Chrome, Because It Just Can’t Stop Being Sneaky
Microsoft Edge Hijacks Users’ Sessions On Google Chrome, Because It Just Can’t Stop Being Sneaky
Another day, another attempt from Microsoft Edge to commit offensive behaviors against users not using its browser – because we still haven’t had enough examples of it, right? Before I get too mad at witnessing yet another underhanded tactic from Microsoft to shove its web browser down everyone’s throats, let’s talk about how the attempt went down this time, courtesy of firsthand experience from The Verge’s editor, Tom Warren.
According to Warren, when he rebooted the system after a Windows Update, Edge automatically launched with all the tabs he previously opened in the Chrome session before rebooting. This was despite that Chrome is the default browser. Not only Edge is playing aggressive tactics to force users into setting itself as the default browser in many previous attempts, but this one can pretty much be described as a hijacking attempt, no less.
Warren wasn’t alone – there have been reports from other users on X (Twitter) reporting similar incidents in their systems, even if the users declined Edge to import browsing data in the setup process. By convention, such a process requires explicit permission from users, so behavior like this one is likely getting into the area of antitrust violations in some regions if it is indeed a deliberate design decision from Microsoft, and they’ve had such experience before in the 2000s (disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer).
On that note, Ars Technica reported that this could be a bug as Warren mentioned an obscure setting under “edge://settings/profiles/importBrowsingData” which allows Edge to constantly import browsing data every time Chrome is launched (only when the user explicitly turns the setting on). However, Microsoft has not clarified this issue at this writing, so it’s not entirely clear if this is a bug or a design choice on the company’s part.
Pokdepinion: That’s just dirty, if it is deliberate. Fix this, Microsoft!
