SpeedReader: Reader Mode Made Fast and Private

Mohammad Ghasemisharif Peter Snyder Andrius Aucinas Benjamin Livshits

2019

Publication year

Work Wide Web Conference

Venue

Peer-reviewed

Type

§ Abstract

Summary

Browser reader modes improve user experience by stripping away clutter and presenting article content in a clean, distraction-free format. However, existing reader modes are implemented as extensions or built-in features that run in the same privilege context as the web page, exposing users to tracking and side-channel attacks. We present SpeedReader, a reader mode that is both fast and private by design. SpeedReader runs the reader mode feature in a separate, minimal rendering context that isolates the parsed article content from the original web page's scripts and trackers. Our evaluation shows that SpeedReader reduces third-party tracking by 89% compared to standard reader modes while maintaining rendering fidelity.

Cite this paper — BibTeX

@InProceedings{www19,
  title = "{SpeedReader: Reader Mode Made Fast and Private}",
  author = "Mohammad Ghasemisharif and Peter Snyder and Andrius Aucinas and Benjamin Livshits",
  year = "2019",
  month = may,
  booktitle = "Work Wide Web Conference",
}