Using "incognito mode" for privacy? Browser add-ons? A VPN? You still need Epic.
You're tracked by Google, by your ISP, your government and hundreds of data collectors while in incognito or other private browsing modes. Your browsing history is easily accessible (via your DNS cache) upon incognito window close.
Behind a VPN, your real IP address can leak through certain types of WebRTC calls -- only Epic blocks them. Even if your IP address is hidden, tens of thousands of websites use fingerprinting techniques such as accessing image canvas data to track you.
Epic blocks fingerprinting scripts and functions like image canvas data access to protect you which no browser extension can do. There is no combination of settings changes and browser add-ons which provides the same level of protection, let alone the ease and speed of use that Epic does. Unfortunately, any browser add-on has access to your entire browsing and search history and while many may protect you from some trackers, they often collect and sell your data to others -- so browser add-ons may reduce your privacy and security rather than enhance it.
Epic is a private browser that's fast, simple and actually works. When you're using Epic with our encrypted proxy on, your data is encrypted and hidden from the government, from your ISP, from Google, from your employer, and from hundreds of data collectors. On close of Epic, there's no easily accessible record of your browsing history left on your computer. We believe what you browse & search should always be private.
Visiting the top 50 websites will install over 3,000 tracking files on your computer. Your ISP can now save and sell your browsing history.
Over 80% of websites use one or more tracking tools. We've found an average of six per website with that number rising to a dozen or more on larger websites. New FCC regulations allow ISPs such as Verizon, Comcast and all others to both save and sell your browsing history.
In the $100+ billion dollar advertising industry, even a one percent additional yield means an extra billion dollars a year in revenues for advertisers hence the massive incentive to track you and show you more personal and creepy ads (unless you're using Epic).
Spy on the spies in Epic. Epic shows you who's tracking you in your other browsers (most likely dozens of data collectors) as well as the trackers Epic blocks at each webpage you visit.
Epic protects you from over one thousand tracking attempts in a typical browsing session. Over a year of browsing it works out to hundreds of thousands of bits of data about you that Epic protects.
Companies track you via several methods.
- Cookies
- Evercookies
- IP address
- Flash cookies
- HTML 5 storage
- Fingerprinting
Many techniques are used to track you when you're online. Epic blocks as many tracking methods as possible without "breaking the internet", and much of what Epic blocks speeds up your browsing experience.
From the perspective of hundreds of ad and data collection companies, you are the product, waiting to be sold to advertisers.
“[Data collected through your browsing can determine] whether you can obtain a job, credit or insurance.”
“Your information can be stored, analyzed, indexed and sold as a commodity to data brokers who in turn might sell it to advertisers, employers, health insurers or credit rating agencies.”
There are dozens of data collection firms. The industry leader alone processes 50 trillion data "transactions" a year, yielding revenues of over $1 billion. All from selling your data.
Online surveillance leads to self-surveillance and self-censorship.
Without privacy, we lose our freedom of thought and exploration. When you know you're under surveillance, you are less likely to explore controversial topics or share minority opinions. Recent studies have found writers and those with minority views are already engaging in self-censorship after learning of the extent of governmental online surveillence.
“You know that dream where you suddenly realize you're stark naked? You're living it whenever you open your browser.”
Online data is merged with offline data and sold.
"Personally identifiable data from the online world is merged with personally identifiable information from the offline world, everyday," says the head of global privacy and public policy at Acxiom, a leading data collection firm, to The New York Times.
“Websites vary prices, deals based on users' information … A Wall Street Journal investigation identified several companies including Staples … and Home Depot, that were consistently adjusting prices.”
Online advertising is a $100+ billion business.
Your age, race, sex, weight, height, marital status, education level, politics, buying habits, household wealth, health issues, vacation dreams, search queries and other personal details are collected and sold by data aggregators millions of times every second on ad exchanges.
These companies have big plans for your data. The world's leading search engine's former CEO: "We know where you are. We know where you've been. We can more or less know what you're thinking about."
You would never let anyone stalk you in real life.
Imagine hundreds of people following you around your work, your home, at stores with a notebook, writing down everything you do! That's what happens every time you browse the internet in an ordinary browser.
11 core browser privacy leaks that Epic blocks
Address bar and URL tracking removed
- Local DB-based address bar suggest.
- No URL check
- Auto-translate removed
- No URL tracker
Installation tracking removed
- Installation ID removed
- RLZ tracking number removed
- Default updater removed
- Installation time stamp removed
Error tracking removed
- No alternate error pages
- No navigation error suggestions
- No error reporting
WebRTC IP address leaking blocked
Epic blocks certain types of WebRTC calls that can leak your IP address, even if you're using an encrypted proxy or a VPN.
Do not track signal always on
We request every website you visit not to track you. Don't worry, we also actively block them from tracking you!
Epic's default is extreme privacy
- No tracking IDs
- No web cache
- No DNS pre-fetching
- No third-party cookies
Comprehensive ad and tracker blocking
Epic includes built-in protection against thousands of tracking scripts, tracking cookies and other tracking agents, ad networks, cryptocurrency mining scripts (such as Coinhive), dangerous malvertising, and third-party widgets.
Services such as address bar autofill are done locally in your system so your browsing doesn't go through our servers.
NO data collection. Unlike other browsers, tracker blockers and privacy tools, Epic NEVER collects, shares or sells any data from our users!
Referer header data not sent
Unlike other browsers, we don't send data about search terms you've entered to other websites when you click on links from a search engine.
Fingerprinting protection
Epic blocks dozens of tracking scripts that fingerprint you. Epic also blocks widely used fingerprinting methods such as accessing image canvas, font canvas, audiocontext, and several other data types.
Epic blocks ultrasound signals which are sent from websites to be picked up by your mobile phone in order to coordinate tracking (no, we're not making this method up!). You can granularly control anti-fingerprinting settings and see which techniques websites may be using via Epic's umbrella button.
Optional always-on private browsing mode
You can use Epic as a traditional browser with strong default privacy and incognito mode windows. You can also set Epic to delete all data on close and not record history. If enabled then Epic deletes:
- Databases
- Shortcuts
- Data related to current tabs
- Extension states
- Cookies
- History
- Visited links
- Pepper data
- Local storage
- Preferences
One-click encrypted proxy
Epic's encrypted proxy when turned on hides your IP address and encrypts your browsing. DNS requests are also routed through the encrypted proxy. This protects your browsing history from your ISP, your employer, your government, data collectors, and other network snoops. It also secures you when you're on public wi-fi (wi-fi protection), and allows you to access websites that may be blocked or that offer different content by country such as Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Pandora, Spotify and others.
Please note that plugins may leak your actual IP address though they're rarely used. All Epic users can access our free VPN servers in the US, Canada, Singapore, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK.
Local address bar autocomplete
Epic autocompletes URLs as you type them in its address bar via a database stored locally on your computer. Enjoy both great convenience and great privacy.
Other browsers send what you type in the address bar to their servers or analyze your browsing history to make suggestions. This means they know virtually every search you make and website you visit. We've designed Epic without web-based services for maximum privacy.