Frequently asked questions

Is this legal?

Spurio visits public sites and runs ordinary searches from your own browser. It bypasses no protection, creates no accounts, and touches no service you’re logged into. That said, automated traffic can conflict with a site’s terms of service — one reason the list is short, public, and limited to large sites that already receive traffic of this kind.

Does it click ads?

No. That’s the difference from AdNauseam. Spurio never clicks an ad and costs no one money: it muddies your profile without participating in click fraud.

Will it slow my browser down?

One background tab at a time by default, never focused. Intensity is a setting; at the lowest one it’s a handful of visits per hour, during your active hours only.

What about my data cap?

Each action loads a real web page, so yes, it uses data. On a limited plan, turn the intensity down. Respecting metered connections is on the pre-release list.

Will it pollute my history and my recommendations?

Partly, yes — that’s the mechanism. Decoy visits and searches appear in your history, and browsing-based recommendations can drift. That’s the trade, and it’s why the topics are deliberately mundane.

Why does a tab appear on its own?

Because no modern browser offers a truly hidden tab. It never steals focus, and it closes itself.

Can my employer or ISP see this traffic?

Yes. Spurio hides nothing from the network; it adds ordinary traffic. On a corporate network, factor that in before switching it on.

Does it work with a VPN?

Yes, and they complement each other: the VPN hides where, Spurio muddies what.

What does it cost?

Nothing. Free and open source. There’s no account, no paid tier and no data to resell — the business model can’t be you.

Why should I trust you?

As little as possible, by design. No server receives your data, the code is public under GPLv3, the site list is readable, and reproducible builds will let you compare the published extension against the source.

Firefox? Safari? Mobile?

Chromium first (Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi), Firefox next. Safari is deferred — it needs a native app wrapper and a paid developer account. Native mobile apps stay out of reach: no extension can touch them.

When is it out?

No announced date. The public roadmap shows exactly what’s left: ROADMAP.md.