My VPN is active, I have the BitDefender extension in Firefox, but a website can still see my email

MargB

I was just exploring a website (not email related). I tapped on a link which required me to have a membership (I didn't know that), and it popped up a "register" dialogue which displayed my email address.

I am running the VPN (and even have the deadman switch active), and I run the AntiTracker (through Firefox). I have never had any email contact with that site, and even if I did, the VPN hides my real IP. So this is a scary failure on the anonymity front - where the heck did they casually read my email address from on the fly?

Alexandru_BD

Hi,

Your email wasn’t read in real time from your device, and this is unrelated to the VPN. I suspect this has to do with browser account sign-in, because if you’re logged into let's say Firefox sync, Google, Microsoft, or another account in that browser, sites can access your email via embedded login providers, OAuth, “continue with Google / Apple / Microsoft” frameworks, or even cached identity hints from prior visits, so this is not something related to IP-based tracking. The site may simply pre-fill what it already knows from a trusted identity provider.

In short, VPN does NOT affect this because it only hides your IP, it does not hide who you’re logged in as inside the browser..

Also, if you use Firefox’s built-in autofill, or a password manager, the browser may auto-inject the email field before you even notice it.

If you want maximum anonymity, there are a couple of things to consider. First, use private browsing, always. Secondly, log out of browser sync accounts and disable autofill. You could also choose to use a separate browser profile for anonymous browsing.

I hope this helps.

Regards