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Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly relying on web crawling to stay up to date and accurately answer user queries. These crawlers are expected to honor robots.txt files, which govern automated access. In this study, for the first…

In this paper we argue that policies are an increasing concern for organizations that are operating a web site. Examples of policies that are relevant in the domain of the web address issues such as privacy of personal data, accessibility…

Many companies and organizations use firewalls to control the access to their network infrastructure. Firewalls are network security components which provide means to filter traffic within corporate networks, as well as to police incoming…

Researchers have extensively explored how password creation policies influence the security and usability of user-chosen passwords, producing evidence-based policy guidelines. However, for web authentication to improve in practice, websites…

By filtering the content that users see, social media platforms have the ability to influence users' perceptions and decisions, from their dining choices to their voting preferences. This influence has drawn scrutiny, with many calling for…

Most users agree to online privacy policies without reading or understanding them, even though these documents govern how personal data is collected, shared, and monetized. Privacy policies are typically long, legally complex, and difficult…

Artificial Intelligence based systems increasingly use personalization to provide users with relevant content, products, and solutions. Personalization is intended to support users and address their respective needs and preferences.…

A filter bubble refers to the phenomenon where Internet customization effectively isolates individuals from diverse opinions or materials, resulting in their exposure to only a select set of content. This can lead to the reinforcement of…

Filter lists play a large and growing role in protecting and assisting web users. The vast majority of popular filter lists are crowd-sourced, where a large number of people manually label resources related to undesirable web resources…

Internet censorship measurements rely on lists of websites to be tested, or "block lists" that are curated by third parties. Unfortunately, many of these lists are not public, and those that are tend to focus on a small group of topics,…

The amount of personal information unwillingly exposed by users on online social networks is staggering, as shown in recent research. Moreover, recent reports indicate that these networks are infested with tens of millions of fake users…

A dominant regulatory model for web privacy is "notice and choice". In this model, users are notified of data collection and provided with options to control it. To examine the efficacy of this approach, this study presents the first…

We investigate adblocking filters and the extent to which websites and advertisers react when their content is impacted by these filters. We collected data daily from the Alexa Top-5000 web sites for 120 days, and from specific sites that…

Websites employ third-party ads and tracking services leveraging cookies and JavaScript code, to deliver ads and track users' behavior, causing privacy concerns. To limit online tracking and block advertisements, several ad-blocking (black)…

Automated browsers are widely used to study the web at scale. Their premise is that they measure what regular browsers would encounter on the web. In practice, deviations due to detection of automation have been found. To what extent…

Modern web applications serve large amounts of sensitive user data, access to which is typically governed by data-access policies. Enforcing such policies is crucial to preventing improper data access, and prior work has proposed many…

Malware spread among websites and between websites and clients is an increasing problem. Search engines play an important role in directing users to websites and are a natural control point for intervening, using mechanisms such as…

Finding and fixing errors is a time-consuming task not only for novice programmers but also for expert programmers. Prior work has identified frequent error patterns among various levels of programmers. However, the differences in the…

Social networks have become an essential meeting point for millions of individuals willing to publish and consume huge quantities of heterogeneous information. Some studies have shown that the data published in these platforms may contain…

To protect users' privacy, legislators have regulated the usage of tracking technologies, mandating the acquisition of users' consent before collecting data. Consequently, websites started showing more and more consent management modules --…