Safari wifi encryption extensions vs WPS

[MacMan988]

Hi, I have been reading about certain Safari extensions that encrypts the data when I browse internet through wifi (eg: disconnect.me) . Is this the same as the encryption feature we can find in the wireless router? If I have WPS or similar encryption method enabled in my wifi router, can I still benefit from this kind of Safari extensions?

 

[Dark Dragoon]

1) The disconnect.me extension appears to mainly disable tracking cookies and force the use of HTTPS (encrypted connection to a website) where possible. This is dependant on each individual website, but the data is encrypted from your computer until it hits the web server at the other end.

2) WiFi encryption stops people from sitting outside your house and watching the traffic/joining your wireless network. It encrypts your data between your computer and your wireless access point.


So 2 is great against local threats, and stops unwanted people from joining your network.

Whereas 1 is more wide reaching as it attempts to stop people from reading your data as it travels over the internet to its destination and back. However it's worth noting that decent websites will do this anyway when you are sending sensitive data such as payment details, and rubbish websites may not have any encryption to enable at all anyway (the extension would do nothing).

 

[MacMan988]

1) The disconnect.me extension appears to mainly disable tracking cookies and force the use of HTTPS (encrypted connection to a website) where possible. This is dependant on each individual website, but the data is encrypted from your computer until it hits the web server at the other end.

2) WiFi encryption stops people from sitting outside your house and watching the traffic/joining your wireless network. It encrypts your data between your computer and your wireless access point.


So 2 is great against local threats, and stops unwanted people from joining your network.

Whereas 1 is more wide reaching as it attempts to stop people from reading your data as it travels over the internet to its destination and back. However it's worth noting that decent websites will do this anyway when you are sending sensitive data such as payment details, and rubbish websites may not have any encryption to enable at all anyway (the extension would do nothing).

Thank your for the information. So it seems the extension doesn't do anything much other than removing social media related components from the web page.