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"Before visiting a website, Safari may send information calculated from website address to Google Safe Browsing and Tencent Safe Browsing to check if the website is fraudulent," the fine print reads. The Tencent disclosure is contained in the Safari settings for iOS 12 and 13 devices. Privacy concerns with Google's Safe Browsing service is nothing new, but Apple's Safari browser has been using another blacklist of malicious websites to protect users in China-and it's powered by Tencent, a company that's legally obligated to share data with the Chinese government. But theoretically, with enough website lookups, the company could piece together what websites your device's IP address has been seeking to visit, according to past research (Opens in a new window). The data scrambling is designed to prevent Google from learning the full website address as a way to protect your privacy. However, in the event you visit a suspected fraudulent webpage, the browser will send your device's IP address and a scrambled version of the website's address to Google. The browser can warn you by accessing Google's Safe Browsing service (Opens in a new window), which functions as a giant blacklist of malicious websites on the internet. The issue deals with a Safari feature meant to protect you from fraudulent websites (for instance a fake login page).
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