In the last few hours, you may have noticed a new visitor in your Google Chrome browser. It is a small lowercase letter "i" within a circle that appears immediately in front of the URL address where we are . As soon as we noticed the existence of said new icon in the Tuexperto newsroom, we have not investigated what it is for or what it warns us about.
The first thing we have noticed is that it does not appear on all web pages . Without going any further, it does not appear in the Google search engine . At its YouTube subsidiary , either. Sites like Wikipedia, Yahoo, Amazon or El Corte Inglés do not have this icon but a green padlock. When clicking on it, a clear and obvious message appears: "Your connection to this site is private . " Clicking on details indicates that the site has a valid connection with a certified and secure server.
By displaying the menu, we can set permissions manually in our relationship with the website in question . Access to microphone, camera, location, notifications, automatic downloads… If you were wondering why an Internet multi-millionaire like Mark Zuckerberg covered his camera and microphone with duct tape , here is one of the answer. Especially since this management would have to be done manually page by page. Although the "ask" option can be left pre-established whenever a website wants to obtain a permit.
The new information icon
The icon appears immediately in front of the URL, in short, on pages or websites that do not have a private connection in the eyes of the Google Chrome browser. When clicking on details, we find a brief message that tells us that the website in question is not secure . One of the reasons why connections are not secure is because of the links on the page itself. Especially those that redirect to ads not managed directly by Google .
As you can see, our URL has the warning icon . But briefly browsing the Internet we find that big brands in the journalistic industry such as El País, El Mundo, ABC, La Razón, Expansión or Público also have it. The reason is that all these pages also redirect some links to ad centers not controlled by the US company.
Towards total hegemony in the control of advertisements?
At this point, it is clear that the difference is established between secure connections (understood as private) and non-secure connections -with the https protocol- . But when asking Chrome why the page is not secure, it takes us to insecure ad links . While at the same time it informs us that its ads are validated with its own security protocol. So at this point it is worth wondering if it is a way to invite web pages with advertising not managed by Google to change in exchange for a green lock.
In short, the new icon warns you that within that page there are links that can take you to sites not managed by Google. You can continue browsing safely in Tuexperto.