Microsoft may have removed the Edge’s controversial “Image Enhancement” feature following privacy concerns raised by users. The “Enhance images in Microsoft Edge” setting is not available in release and insider channels, as of writing.
Image Enhancement feature in Microsoft Edge
Microsoft uses its own AI service to sharpen images found on websites in Edge. The feature named “SuperRes” or “Image Enhancement” is enabled by default in the browser.
Behind the scenes, Edge sends image enhancement requests to Turing service in the cloud.
The company tested this feature in pre-release channels, like other Edge features, before making it available to the public.
When applicable to webpages containing pictures, Edge displayed an “HD” icon in the URL bar.
Initially, the feature was described as improving color, lighting, and contrast using super-resolution. However, the description was recently updated to indicate that ” image URLs would be sent to Microsoft for super-resolution“, with the option to choose enhancement on preferred sites.
Image credit: Leopeva
The updated description sparked debate and privacy concerns among the Edge insider community regarding the transmission of Picture URLs to Microsoft servers.
However, Microsoft mentioned in its support document that when image enhancement is enabled, Edge encrypts and transmits image URLs to Microsoft servers, without including user identifiers. The image URL and enhanced image are cached for 7 days to improve performance.
“when image enhancement is turned on Microsoft Edge encrypts and transmits image URLs to Microsoft servers to perform image enhancement. No user identifiers are included in the request to the servers. The image URL and enhanced image are cached for 7 days solely to improve performance.”
The controversy arises from the feature being enabled by default, allowing Edge to send image links without explicit user permission, which raises significant privacy concerns. Many argue that the Image Enhancement feature should have been opt-in rather than opt-out.
Another recent privacy flaw was discovered in Edge, involving the Follow Creator feature that sent all user-visited site URLs to Bing. While it is possible to disable the Follow Creator, this finding further fueled skepticism about Edge’s privacy practices.
Seems, following recent negative feedback, Microsoft has removed the Image Enhancement feature. It may be reintroduced in the future, disabled by default, allowing users to enable and enhance images found on web pages if they wish.
What’s your take on Edge’s Image Enhancement feature? Have you found it super useful? Let us know in the comments below.
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