Google has introduced two new security features aimed at enhancing browsing safety. One feature blocks access to potentially suspicious websites, while the other is a Chrome browser extension that flags virtually any site visited as suspicious. If your site isn’t a well-known brand, there’s a higher chance it will be labeled as suspicious.
### Multitude of False Positives
A false positive occurs when an algorithm incorrectly identifies a normal site as a spam site. The new feature, a Chrome extension, allows users to report suspicious websites and warns them about potentially dangerous sites. However, this extension is so aggressive that it even flagged the official announcement of the browser extension itself with two warnings.
### Chrome Extension Slightly Biased to Big Brands
The Chrome Suspicious Site Reporter extension favors big brand websites, automatically bypassing flagging for those in the top 5,000 websites. If a user visits a big brand site for the first time or hasn’t visited it in the last three months, no flag of suspicion is raised.
### Big Brands Can Still be Flagged as Suspicious
Even though the extension favors big brands, they are not entirely immune to being flagged. If a user hasn’t visited a site within the last three months, even a big brand website can receive a flag.
#### Walmart Flagged as Suspicious
#### Mozilla Flagged as Suspicious
A flag was given to Mozilla, creators of the competing Firefox browser, because the extension flagged it as suspicious due to not visiting the site within the last three months.
### Biased Against Small Websites
The extension will automatically flag all small websites, excluding only those among the top 5,000. This creates a bias against small business websites, affiliate sites, and most sites on the Internet.
According to Chrome:
_”With the Suspicious Site Reporter extension, you’ll see an icon when you’re on a potentially suspicious site, and more information about why the site is suspicious. Click the icon to report unsafe sites to Safe Browsing for further evaluation.”_
This Chrome security feature resembles historical witch hunts, where innocent people were falsely accused. Similarly, this extension identifies innocent websites as suspicious, suggesting that being a small site is a negative trait. Does that seem right to you?
