cliqz-oss

browser-core

JavaScript2017–2020

cliqz-oss / browser-core

browser-core

Cliqz features, shared across products including Cliqz browsers for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS

Web Development Mobile & Desktop

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7Distinct people

10Mentions

0Explicit recommenders

108GitHub stars

REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

Cliqz features, shared across products including Cliqz browsers for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use has been verified yet.

What people are saying

No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 3:56:07 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by month10 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2017-10-07 02:43:00 UTC to 2020-05-01 18:33:37 UTC.

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges

UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
Period	Start (UTC)	End (exclusive, UTC)	Mentions	Comments
Oct 2017	2017-10-01 00:00:00 UTC	2017-11-01 00:00:00 UTC	3	3
Nov 2017	2017-11-01 00:00:00 UTC	2017-12-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Dec 2017	2017-12-01 00:00:00 UTC	2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Jan 2018	2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2018-02-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Feb 2018	2018-02-01 00:00:00 UTC	2018-03-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Mar 2018	2018-03-01 00:00:00 UTC	2018-04-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Apr 2018	2018-04-01 00:00:00 UTC	2018-05-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
May 2018	2018-05-01 00:00:00 UTC	2018-06-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Jun 2018	2018-06-01 00:00:00 UTC	2018-07-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Jul 2018	2018-07-01 00:00:00 UTC	2018-08-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Aug 2018	2018-08-01 00:00:00 UTC	2018-09-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Sep 2018	2018-09-01 00:00:00 UTC	2018-10-01 00:00:00 UTC	1	1
Oct 2018	2018-10-01 00:00:00 UTC	2018-11-01 00:00:00 UTC	1	1
Nov 2018	2018-11-01 00:00:00 UTC	2018-12-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Dec 2018	2018-12-01 00:00:00 UTC	2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Jan 2019	2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2019-02-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Feb 2019	2019-02-01 00:00:00 UTC	2019-03-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Mar 2019	2019-03-01 00:00:00 UTC	2019-04-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Apr 2019	2019-04-01 00:00:00 UTC	2019-05-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
May 2019	2019-05-01 00:00:00 UTC	2019-06-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Jun 2019	2019-06-01 00:00:00 UTC	2019-07-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Jul 2019	2019-07-01 00:00:00 UTC	2019-08-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Aug 2019	2019-08-01 00:00:00 UTC	2019-09-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Sep 2019	2019-09-01 00:00:00 UTC	2019-10-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Oct 2019	2019-10-01 00:00:00 UTC	2019-11-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Nov 2019	2019-11-01 00:00:00 UTC	2019-12-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Dec 2019	2019-12-01 00:00:00 UTC	2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	4	4
Jan 2020	2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2020-02-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Feb 2020	2020-02-01 00:00:00 UTC	2020-03-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Mar 2020	2020-03-01 00:00:00 UTC	2020-04-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
Apr 2020	2020-04-01 00:00:00 UTC	2020-05-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0
May 2020	2020-05-01 00:00:00 UTC	2020-06-01 00:00:00 UTC	1	1

What Hacker News says

10 sources

__ka·May 1, 2020

This statement is misleading. Firstly, for context here's the paragraph you ought to be referring to: > This experiment also includes the data collection tool Cliqz uses to build its recommendation engine. Users who receive a version of Firefox with Cliqz will have their browsing activity sent to Cliqz servers, including the URLs of pages they visit. Cliqz uses several techniques to attempt to remove sensitive information from this browsing data before it is sent from Firefox. Cliqz does not build browsing profiles for individual users and discards the user's IP address once the data is collected. Cliqz's code is available for public review and a description of these techniques can be found here. This section is a horrible write up of what happened. Over the years, among a lot of other privacy tech (e.g. [0][1][2]), we developed a privacy

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-preserving data collection framework we call Human Web [3]. The gist of it is simple: Users contribute data. There's no way to link any two messages with one another making it impossible to build profiles out of the data. In fact, most of the URLs are dropped thanks to these strict checks. Mozilla, Princeton University and Red Pen Team have audited the approach. The code is open-sourced [4]. Feel free to audit it, and also please feel free to use it in your projects. If you are genuinely interested in the approach, please read [3] and let's discuss details. Here's the bigger issue. We have created an unhealthy, and wrong narrative around privacy vs data collection. It's a false dichotomy. We also wrote at length about this here [5]. Data from people, is not the same as personal data. Record linkage here is key, and we prevent it - even at a network level [6]. If you are interested to read more about the Firefox Integration (and the context in which it happened), read this: https://www.0x65.dev/blog/2019-12-11/the-pivot-that-excited-... --- [0] Adblocker (fastest there is): https://www.0x65.dev/blog/2019-12-20/not-all-adblockers-are-... [1] Algorithmic anti-tracking (first and only): https://www.0x65.dev/blog/2019-12-19/blocking-tracking-witho... [2] Anti-Phishing: https://www.0x65.dev/blog/2019-12-21/anti-phishing-with-priv... [3] Human Web: https://www.0x65.dev/blog/2019-12-03/human-web-collecting-da... [4]: Human Web Code: https://github.com/cliqz-oss/browser-core/tree/master/module... [5]: Is Data Collection Evil: https://www.0x65.dev/blog/2019-12-02/is-data-collection-evil... [6]: HPN: https://www.0x65.dev/blog/2019-12-04/human-web-proxy-network...

In The Cliqz Story Is Over

kkm·Dec 16, 2019

Thank you for taking the time to read the article and sharing your feedback. Noise is added for what is called plausible deniability. Note that messages themselves do not contain any user-identifier. We take extra measures to strip request headers not needed by the server to avoid extra information that could be used for implicitly linking messages[1]. Possibility of linking messages based on network fingerprinting (ex: IP - which we do not log) still exists and is an open concern which we will solve in the next version. This at most makes it possible for us to learn that these 3 domains are visited by the same person, again - given that the list of domains are from shortlisted top-news domains, it is safe to assume that they do not contain any PII. That said, it is not the strongest model we apply -- due to resource-constrains we have no

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t updated to strongest models like we do on more sensitive data - via HumanWeb[2]. We will soon do the changes on a couple of dimensions: a) each domain as separate message, right now this introduces un-wanted spatial correlations, and b) send the domain through the proxy network HPN[3]. Ref: [1]: https://github.com/cliqz-oss/browser-core/blob/7679c40aec9fe... [2]: https://www.0x65.dev/blog/2019-12-03/human-web-collecting-da... [3]: https://www.0x65.dev/blog/2019-12-04/human-web-proxy-network... Disclaimer: I work for Cliqz.

In Personalized news recommendations and privacy are not mutually exclusive

kkm·Dec 1, 2019

Hi, Disclaimer: I work for Cliqz. Thank you the questions, we are always looking for constructive feedback on and off HN. 1. These random values are used for grouping partial queries together, and they reset when you press enter or start a new query. Source code on how it's generated: https://github.com/cliqz-oss/browser-core/blob/master/module... We actually take one additional precaution of using crypto random and not plain Math.random(), which could potentially be used to link multiple sessions together. 2. There is no feature to disable auto-suggest. But I will pass your feedback to the team. 3. No there is no shared ownership, we don't have access to their servers. We also do additional encryption with bucketing on the payload sizes that we route through foxyProxy, so that the proxy provider cannot learn anything about the content of

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the message. We will have a blogpost explaining this on Wednesday - 4th December. Also, we are looking to add an option, where user can choose their own proxy provider too. 4. There are two parts: a. You can select the option from Control Center (Q menu) icon in the toolbar -> search -> search via proxy. (Now the calls should go through FoxyProxy) b. All calls to api.cliqz.com go through proxy when in private mode. The only reason it's not default is latency. As to what goes through FoxyProxy by default is: all Human Web data. Once again, we appreciate you looking into details, and please keep digging, we would be happy to answer, improve our documentation and if there are bugs specially related to privacy and security they are on our uttermost priority.

In The world needs more search engines

__ka·Dec 1, 2019

Sorry you feel that way. In the Cliqz browser you search as you type. To search and serve results we need to know the query. We will have an article on exactly this product in a week or so. We will also be sharing more details on the process on data collection in the blog posts scheduled in the next 3 days. Of course, you don't need to trust what we say, all the code used for collecting data is open-source for transparency and auditing: https://github.com/cliqz-oss/browser-core Lastly, privacy policies are legally binding documents, and we take the law very seriously. We are located in Germany, where privacy laws are as tough as they get (e.g. GDPR was loosely just a re-wording of the existing data protection directive in Germany).

In The world needs more search engines

kkm·Dec 1, 2019

Hi Aorth, Disclaimer: I work for Cliqz. We are aware of this and it's unfortunate, although the lists are not the main ones from community like Easylist, uBlock Origin etc. Cliqz does need to collect data to build it's search engine and other features. Even though we do with by privacy-by-design in mind and without collecting any PII (we will be sharing more details on the process on data collection in the blogposts scheduled for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday),still we do end up getting on such lists. Of course, you don't need to trust what we say, all the code used for collecting data is open-source for transparency and auditing. Additionally, also happy to help setup network debugging incase you want check what exactly goes out. - https://github.com/cliqz-oss/browser-core We are also willing to discuss with the maintainers of the list a

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nd explaining what and how data collection is done.

In The world needs more search engines

bjoern_cliqz·Oct 10, 2018

Hey, Björn from Cliqz here. Great to see the post has generated some interesting discussions on matters of privacy, compliance, and as you point out - business models. Cliqz never has collected any personal data on its users, and never will. Over the course of the last 4 years, we started building a private search engine, to only realize that if we are to truly offer a usable alternative to navigate the web privately - we had to do much more. So we quickly found ourselves building an anti-tracking technology, anti-phishing, and anonymous rate limiting using Direct Anonymous Attestation. This research has been published / presented in the WWW Conference, Crypto and Privacy Village at DEF CON and CCC's Privacy Week. We have packed all these technologies in desktop and mobile browsers. This is what we do and it's what got Mozilla intereste

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d in Cliqz, and why they are an investor, just like Burda Media. All the technologies we have built share 2 attributes: 1. None collect personal data 2. Rely on client-side logic (computers are powerful enough these days to be used for more than display interfaces) Offers is part of how we monetize (we're exploring paid products too). Like any other technology at Cliqz, they share the same 2 attributes (No personal data, all triggering logic resides in the client). The code is open sourced here [1]. You can read a high-level description here [2]. We believe our approach is a healthy alternative to monetizing products on the web. At all times we allow the user to control what features from Cliqz they want to use; including offers. We understand there are plenty of reasons to be frustrated with the state of the web (we are too) - but blatantly rejecting any business model that brings privacy-preserving products to the market is not healthy. [1]: https://github.com/cliqz-oss/browser-core/tree/master/module... [2]: https://cliqz.com/en/cliqz-angebote

In Study: Google is the biggest beneficiary of the GDPR

eleniS2·Sep 18, 2018

We are also building such a product. The core idea is: Your browser knows you best. We leverage this to display offers tailored to your browsing behavior that include a valuable user benefit without any of the information ever leaving your browser. You can read more of how we do this in https://myoffrz.com/en/fuer-nutzer/. Plus the code is open sourced here: https://github.com/cliqz-oss/browser-core/tree/master/module.... The product name is MyOffrz and is integrated in the Cliqz Browser/Extension as "Cliqz Offers" and in the Ghostery extension as "Ghostery Rewards Beta" for German users.

In Funding Choices – Google’s new tool for GDPR compliance and content monetization

482794793792894·Oct 7, 2017

Can you at least try to not rip sentences like these completely out of their place? There's people here who won't bother to translate and you're abusing that to make Mozilla look bad. The sentences afterwards: "Cliqz uses different methods which should take care of removing sensitive information, before it's sent out from Firefox. Additionally, Cliqz does not create profiles of individual users and erases their IPs as soon as the data has been collected. The code of Cliqz is publicly accessible [open-source under MPLv2] [1] and a description of the used methods can be viewed here [in English, 2]." [1] https://github.com/cliqz-oss/browser-core/blob/master/module... [2] https://gist.github.com/solso/423a1104a9e3c1e3b8d7c9ca14e885...

In Testing Cliqz in Firefox

sharmi·Oct 7, 2017

TL;DR Cliqz provides recommendations such as news, weather news, or the world of sports, while typing into the address line. Next week, a little less than one percent of the German users who download Firefox from mozilla's central download page will receive a Firefox version with the Cliqz recommendations activated automatically. This includes the data capture tool that records the surfing activities those users, including the URLs of the pages they visit. The data are sent to the Cliqz servers. Cliqz promises to anonimize the data. The data gathering code is available online at [1] and a description methods of gathering at [2]. One can always use the Disable Data Recovery or completely remove the Cliqz add-on. [1] https://github.com/cliqz-oss/browser-core/blob/master/module... [2] https://gist.github.com/solso/423a1104a9e3c1e3b8d7c9ca14e

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885...

In Testing Cliqz in Firefox

arkitaip·Oct 7, 2017

If I understand the Google translation correctly, Mozilla has invested in Germany based Cliqz, basically a privacy oriented fork of Firefox. Cliqz has a feature which displays contextual information in the address bar and apparently Mozilla is experimenting with this feature in Firefox. German users (less than 1% of them) who download Firefox will have the Cliqz addon activated and the addon will collect anonymized user data, such as which URLs have been visited. Cliqz's attempt to collect data while safe guarding user privacy is called Human Web [0] and the code is open source [1]. [0] https://gist.github.com/solso/423a1104a9e3c1e3b8d7c9ca14e885... [1] https://github.com/cliqz-oss/browser-core/blob/master/module...

In Testing Cliqz in Firefox