There are a few common reasons why you may repeatedly see a “privacy error” message while browsing the web or using an application. This error typically means that something is blocking the website or app from loading necessary resources or functionality.
Browser Privacy Settings
Many web browsers like Chrome, Firefox and Safari have privacy settings enabled by default that can block certain types of data sharing. For example, Chrome’s Enhanced Protection Mode and Firefox’s Strict Tracking Protection will block cookies and other resources from loading if they seem unnecessary or appear to be tracking you across sites. While this improves privacy, it can sometimes break functionality on websites.
Try toggling these privacy settings off and on in your browser settings to see if that fixes the privacy error. You may need to allow cookies or site data access for that specific site experiencing problems.
Website Using HTTPS
Websites that use the HTTPS secure protocol will display privacy errors if any part of the site fails to load securely. This could happen if the site has some resources or assets still loading over HTTP. Parts of the page may fail to load and show errors as a result.
There’s not much you can do about this as a user, other than informing the webmaster that their HTTPS site has some insecure components. You may need to access the HTTP version of the site if available until they fix it.
Outdated Security Certificates
To enable HTTPS, websites need an SSL/TLS certificate installed on their server. If this security certificate expires or becomes invalid, browsers will start throwing privacy errors when visiting the site.
The only solution is for the website owner to renew and update their SSL certificate. As a user, you can typically bypass the warning and proceed at your own risk until they fix it.
Using Public Wi-Fi Network
Connecting to a public Wi-Fi network often requires accepting a terms of service page or acknowledging a privacy disclaimer. If you fail to do this, you may find many sites and services display privacy errors due to the network blocking access.
Find the terms of service page or disclaimer and accept it to regain full access. This gives the network provider the ability to intercept traffic, which is how they can provide Wi-Fi access for free.
Browser or Device Out of Date
If your browser or device operating system is significantly out of date, it may not support modern web security protocols and encryption. You’ll run into frequent privacy errors on secure sites until updating to the latest browser or OS version.
Check for any available updates and install them. Make sure to reboot your device afterwards if prompted. This will upgrade your software to support newer privacy and security standards.
Using a Proxy or VPN
Proxies and VPN services let you route your web traffic through an intermediary server, often to obscure your location or enhance privacy. However, some free or poorly configured proxies cause security certificate issues resulting in privacy errors.
If you started encountering the errors after connecting through a new proxy/VPN, try disconnecting or switching to a more reputable paid service. You may also need to configure proxy exceptions for sites you trust in order to load them normally.
Antivirus or Firewall Blocking Resources
Antivirus software and firewalls monitor web traffic and can sometimes block resources or scripts from loading if they appear suspicious. This could result in privacy errors on websites that rely on external resources like widgets, analytics or CDNs.
Try disabling your antivirus temporarily or adding exceptions for the affected site. Also check firewall settings and whitelist the domain. This will allow necessary resources to load without interference.
Browser Has Stored Outdated Site Data
Browsers cache website resources locally to speed up load times, but this can cause issues if the cache becomes invalid or outdated. Clearing your browser data forces it to re-download fresh site data instead of using outdated copies.
Clear your cookies, cache, history and other site data via your browser settings menu. Then reload the affected pages. If the privacy errors go away, you just needed to purge the old data.
Corrupt Browser Profile
In rare cases, your browser profile containing settings, data and configurations may become corrupted. This can lead to all sorts of unusual errors and problems on websites.
The best solution is to fully refresh your browser profile after backing up your data like bookmarks. In Chrome, go to Settings > Advanced > Restore settings to their original defaults. This will overwrite your current profile and start fresh.
Website Performing Poorly
Sometimes the issue isn’t on your end, but a problem with the website itself. A site experiencing heavy traffic, DDoS attacks or other performance issues can fail to load assets properly, resulting in privacy errors.
Check third-party sites like Down For Everyone Or Just Me to see if others are having issues accessing the site. If so, you’ll just need to wait for the site owner to resolve the problem.
Conclusion
Privacy errors ultimately indicate that your browser is having trouble verifying the security of a website connection. Work through the potential solutions covered here to determine what might be blocking secure access. With some tweaking of your browser, network or site settings, you should be able to resolve the errors.