The story goes: nearly one million browsers have been secretly turned into website scraping bots through browser extensions, but the story is a bit trickier than that! In this video, I break down the Ars Technica report on the Mellowtel Library and the potential privacy and security vulnerabilities it introduced. This incident highlights broader issues with extension stores, digital hygiene, and the challenge of sustainable developer monetization in the privacy-focused world we're trying to build. Techlore empowers individuals with practical digital privacy knowledge, security tools, and advocacy resources. Discover how to protect your online data and regain control of your digital identity.

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📱 RESOURCES IN VIDEO: • https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/07/browser-extensions-turn-nearly-1-million-browsers-into-website-scraping-bots/ • https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vT1XgBs25gRlg5e3nYCAff967WMtZZTO-TB3rR9zszaJpTpCVFg8j7FkBxnHb3tw3aHGjKBGSxYyLgV/pubhtml • https://secureannex.com/blog/mellow-drama/ • https://www.mellowtel.com/blog/responding-to-ars-technica-and-mellow-drama-article

🔎 RELATED VIDEOS: • https://youtu.be/lRJjsw-NXKo • https://youtu.be/MT90t7P1_qM

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⏱️ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - Intro 00:25 - Which extensions were impacted? 01:35 - Intro to Mellowtel library 02:09 - How Mellowtel Works 04:06 - The problems 05:29 - Sponsor: redact.dev 06:46 - Digital Minimalism 07:17 - Rationale behind keeping things minimal 07:46 - Recommended Action Steps! 09:53 - Broader Implications and why this matters. 11:18 - Important Ethical questions 12:45 - Final Words

YouTube Mirror: https://youtu.be/IxtwKJTp7jI