The first all-European web browser capable of guaranteeing comprehensive online privacy and security for EU Internet users

Project Information

UR Browser

Grant agreement ID: 781524

DOI

10.3030/781524

Project closed

EC signature date 28 July 2017

Start date 1 June 2017

End date 30 September 2017

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

ADAPTIVEBEE
France

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - UR Browser (The first all-European web browser capable of guaranteeing comprehensive online privacy and security for EU Internet users)

Reporting period: 2017-06-01 to 2017-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The main goal of Phase 1 has been to validate the technical and commercial feasibility of our URBrowser 2.0 platform, a browser offering unparalleled features for online security and privacy (including personal data protection, anti-tracking and anti-profiling). The browser addresses the problem of user privacy and security when accessing the internet and provides a solution which is fully in line with the vision and the policy of the European Union, where user privacy is highly protected compared to other countries
The main objectives have been: confirming the market interest (competitive analysis, willingness to pay, market segmentation), recruit people to trial the prototype in phase 2 and update the go-to-market strategy and the business plan accordingly.
The main conclusion of the actions and the results is that the project is very attractive and viable, and thus it shall continue, according to the Business plan for Phase 2 and beyond. The main vision of the project, of providing a European browser, with advanced privacy and security features, has been fully confirmed by the actions in Phase 1.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The main tasks performed during Phase 1 are presented in this report, grouped by the objectives of Phase 1 that are referring to.
Overall, the main work performed and the accomplishments of Phase 1 have been:
a) On the technical solution, we assessed the efficiency of the anti-fingerprinting solution, based on theoretical analysis, practical tests and also based on relevant patents found. Thus, we fully defined our anti-fingerprinting solution, which is efficient while fully maintaining a good user experience.
b) On the technical side, we also determined how the infrastructure costs will vary, depending on the number of users. This information has then been used for updating the business plan.
c) We performed three separate surveys, on potential users (found on the internet), on beta users of our product, as well as on people of different ages, nationalities and occupations whom we invited in our office to test the product. These surveys enabled us to further improve our solution in terms of user experience and also provided great inputs for reviewing the business plan.
d) We finished the assessment of the IPR status and determined that there are no patents we are in danger of breaching in terms of our anti-fingerprinting and data protection solution.
e) We updated our business plan and our go-to-market strategy

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

On technical side, the main progress which is beyond the state of the art is the validation of our new anti-fingerprinting approach, which provides high anti-tracking capability while preserving a high user experience on all pages. On business side, we achieved the confirmation of the viability of our novel approach: a different browser, with full protection and security features and based on user subscription.

UR browser logo