By Nick Peers
The Web of Trust (WOT) plug-in, which delivers security and privacy ratings on websites and search engine results worldwide, has extended its support to the Opera web browser now that version 11 supports the use of third-party extensions.
WOT 0.9 works in the same way as it does on other supported browsers -- namely Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari and Firefox -- to provide a traffic-light icon in the browser toolbar and next to search engine results to provide at-a-glance safety and privacy ratings for the websites in question. If a site is rated red, Web of Trust throws up a warning message making it clear it doesn't recommend the user visit the site -- this can be overruled by the user, but is not recommended.
Web of Trust ratings are determined by millions of WOT users worldwide. This community approach to security and privacy has received some criticisms for over-zealous and inaccurate ratings, but it does provide a welcome extra layer of security protecting people from visiting less desirable areas of the web.
WOT requires Opera 11 or later to be installed, and is also available through the Opera extensions gallery.
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