Marketers accused of exploiting web browser autofill feature to identify users.

Invisible autofill forms on websites can steal data without users' knowledge, Princeton researchers warn.

Marketing companies have been accused of using built-in browser autofill features to learn the email addresses of, and potentially identify, web users, according to research published last week.

Browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge and Vivaldi have autofill features that allow them to save your email address when you access a website. Password managers have also been targeted. 

However, according to researchers at Princeton University, marketers and others could be tapping this feature as a surreptitious means of gleaning website visitors' email addresses, potentially linking anonymous web surfers with accounts in marketing and other databases. 

Full story at V3.

By V3 Newsdesk.