Ask HN: What's the best ad-blocking, privacy-enhancing extension set up? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What's the best ad-blocking, privacy-enhancing extension set up?

#11

Post by emanuelmaues » Fri, Aug 28, 2015, 4:09 PM UTC

I use HTTPS Everywhere, uBlock Origin, Random Agent Spoofer with almost everything checked, Self Destructing Cookies and uMatrix.

I do not recommend Ghostery at all, since it is closed source and it collects your data through GhostRank, if enabled.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best ad-blocking, privacy-enhancing extension set up?

#12

Post by nextos » Fri, Aug 28, 2015, 4:11 PM UTC

What's the overlap between uBlock Origin and other plugins like Ghostery or Privacy Badger? Or even uMatrix?

Re: Ask HN: What's the best ad-blocking, privacy-enhancing extension set up?

#13

Post by mlissner » Fri, Aug 28, 2015, 4:14 PM UTC

mrmondo wrote: post #8

uBlock origin and subscribe to relevant feeds. It's simple, lightweight and covers both privacy / security and ads.

You mean to RSS feeds instead of going to actual websites?

Re: Ask HN: What's the best ad-blocking, privacy-enhancing extension set up?

#14

Post by nextos » Fri, Aug 28, 2015, 4:16 PM UTC

emanuelmaues wrote: post #11

I use HTTPS Everywhere, uBlock Origin, Random Agent Spoofer with almost everything checked, Self Destructing Cookies and uMatrix. I do not recommend Ghostery at all, since it is closed source and it collects your data through GhostRank, if enabled.

I think this is a good setup. Not leaking metadata is uber uber important [1]. I feel that by revealing my weird setup e.g., mutt as a mail client I'm really easy to track.

Getting fingerprinted via font browser metrics is also a major worry of mine [2]. Especially if running an exotic setup, it's easy to stand out.

[1] http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2014/may/10/we-kill-peo...

[2] http://www.guanotronic.com/~serge/papers/fc15-fonts.pdf

Re: Ask HN: What's the best ad-blocking, privacy-enhancing extension set up?

#15

Post by diakritikal » Fri, Aug 28, 2015, 4:18 PM UTC

Few folk using Ghostery... but I thought Ghostery was the plugin backed by the advertising industry that just fed your data back to them anyway?

I use AdBlock (original) and Disconnect. Perhaps Disconnect does something with my data tooshrug

Re: Ask HN: What's the best ad-blocking, privacy-enhancing extension set up?

#16

Post by rmxt » Fri, Aug 28, 2015, 4:18 PM UTC

In addition to all the plugins that everyone has listed, I'm also interested in hearing about the default settings that should/need to be disabled in Chrome or Firefox so as to prevent most/all of the "dial-home" features. For example, unchecking the features in Chrome > Settings > Show advanced settings > Privacy, like "Use a web service to detect spelling errors" or the offer to translate pages further below.

While perhaps not as potentially malicious as 3rd party websites, I think that a discussion regarding privacy in web browsers themselves is a useful one.

Some discussion here: http://thesimplecomputer.info/the-private-life-of-chromium-b...

Re: Ask HN: What's the best ad-blocking, privacy-enhancing extension set up?

#17

Post by spuiszis » Fri, Aug 28, 2015, 4:18 PM UTC

AVG Privacy Fix, HTTPS Everywhere, Ghostery.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best ad-blocking, privacy-enhancing extension set up?

#18

Post by chrisxcross » Fri, Aug 28, 2015, 4:22 PM UTC

buckbova wrote: post #4

Drop this in your hosts file and set up a refresh script to replace it periodically. http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/hosts

The connection time outs will make your browsing experience feel slow as page take ages to load before they fail to do so.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best ad-blocking, privacy-enhancing extension set up?

#19

Post by chrisxcross » Fri, Aug 28, 2015, 4:26 PM UTC

Flash is not installed, so there is no need to block. For Adblocking I use Bluhell Firewall, to stop tracking Ghostery and Self-destructing cookies. On top of that I run noScript to kill remaining junk. And because I like to encrypt: HttpsEverywhere.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best ad-blocking, privacy-enhancing extension set up?

#20

Post by fencepost » Fri, Aug 28, 2015, 4:34 PM UTC

If you're willing to go through the headaches of having to reload some pages multiple times, a combination of NoScript and RequestPolicy Continued (not the original RequestPolicy) may be your best bet.

For sites that you visit regularly you can simply whitelist them; for rarer sites you may have to reload pages 2-4 times as you allow requests out to CDNs, etc. and allow JS.

I run that way in Firefox as my daily driver, but have Chrome much less locked down with uBlock Origin for things that I just can't get working right. Chrome is also the only version of Flash installed.

I also tend to do most purchasing (or at least checkouts) in Chrome - annoying to get stuff all set then have the order go screwy because you have to reload the payments page several times to make it work.