Data Privacy: Is Surf Collecting My Data?

Data Privacy: Is Surf Collecting My Data?

Caleb Wilmoth

March 23, 2022

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from working with data,

it’s that users deserve to know who is collecting their data, what data is being collected, and what they are doing with it. So, is Surf collecting your data? Yes! We aren’t going to sugarcoat it and we aren’t ashamed to admit it either - unlike some people… *cough* Facebook *cough*. We firmly believe that your data is your own, which is why we are so transparent about collecting it. In fact, we want to tell you exactly what data we are collecting, how it's being collected, and what we are doing with it.


Surf only collects data with your explicit consent. All of the data you share can be found in two sections: ‘Profile’ and ‘Activity History’. The profile section includes the basic details that you use to create your Surf account (age, location, etc.). The only other data collected is your activity history, or browsing history. It can be found under - you guessed it - ‘Activity History’. Here you can find all of the URLs of the sites you’ve visited recently and have the option to delete them from your activity if you so desire.

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Although we are collecting your data to sell it to brands, we are not selling your specific browsing history. Surf anonymizes and cohorts user data for brands. What does that mean exactly? It means we only share high-level mass browsing trends (ex. Popular sites visited by 18-24 females in Chicago). So, no brands will ever be given access to your specific browsing history, nor will we ever share your personal information with brands (email, phone number, etc.).


Don’t want to share your data? No problem! Since we believe that users ought to have the option to share their data, we gave users the ability to go incognito. By ‘pausing’ Surf, the sites you visit will not be tracked and, thus, not collected. However, you will not receive any points for browsing while Surf is paused. Once you decide to start earning again, you can simply just turn Surf back on with one click! Although users do not receive points while Surf is paused or while using private windows, the extension does work with ad blockers and VPNs.


Last year big tech earned over $500 billion from tracking and selling your data. You received nothing for it and we want to change that. Your data is worth something, get compensated for it.


Start earning now! JoinSurf

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