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What browser should users opt for if they want performance, broad compatibility with websites and absolutely no tracking/analytics? Preferably open source and cross platform.
There is also netsurf and dillo but they are not as compatible due to the lack of js and incomplete css support.
Interesting comment by Gorhill from the above discussion: >> I thought web extensions couldn't block that content. > I just ran a couple of tests, and I believe you are correct. > Legacy uBlock Origin can block the network request to GA. > However webext-hybrid uBO as per Network pane in dev tools does not block it. Same for pure webext Ghostery, the network request to GA was not blocked, again as per Network pane in…
Notice: The mods just changed the title from "Firefox secretly tracks users with Google Analytics in the addon settings" to "Firefox tracks users with Google Analytics in the add-on settings" @mods: The "secretly" was used to signify the fact that Mozilla does not inform users about this fact, their Privacy Policy does not cover it, and at no point does any page, modal, or disclaimer tell this.
Honestly this has never been secret. It's even in the configure flags to enable/disable it. So you van easily disable it as you wish. There's a page on the wiki aboit various forms of data collections [1]. It os pretty descriptive of the information they send. [1] https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Data_Collection
The page you linked to starts with "Firefox sends various data back to Mozilla".
Nowhere does it say "Firefox sends various data back to Google Analytics" on that page.
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@tofumatt's responses sound pragmatic but very tone-deaf given Mozilla's privacy stance. I feel like the only right answer here is to tie all of this into the telemetry opt-in and don't load GA if the user hasn't opted in.
The problem with that approach is that, many technically literate Firefox users will deliberately opt-in to Telemetry as a component of their support for a pro-privacy product. Telemetry actively benefits development of Firefox, and a pro-privacy user will want to strategically share their data with entities they trust in order to row back against the tide of entities that they do not trust. Frankly, Mozilla are shoo…
Frankly, Mozilla are shooting themselves in the foot by sending any data from any of their products or web properties to their primary competitor.
This ship sailed a long time ago. Mozilla negotiated stricter privacy in their contracts with Google, and Mozilla Legal clearly believes Google will uphold those agreements despite it being a competitor.
Notice: The mods just changed the title from "Firefox secretly tracks users with Google Analytics in the addon settings" to "Firefox tracks users with Google Analytics in the add-on settings" @mods: The "secretly" was used to signify the fact that Mozilla does not inform users about this fact, their Privacy Policy does not cover it, and at no point does any page, modal, or disclaimer tell this.
Honestly this has never been secret. It's even in the configure flags to enable/disable it. So you van easily disable it as you wish. There's a page on the wiki aboit various forms of data collections [1]. It os pretty descriptive of the information they send. [1] https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Data_Collection
Telemetry not associated with GA is generally considered to be different from telemetry collected via GA.
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I’d argue the root cause is more that Mozilla is willing to trade away privacy for developer convenience. That they made this decision in the first place, without anyone at Mozilla saying "maybe we shouldn’t do that", is very concerning w.r.t. privacy in the rest of the browser. Even on a Mozilla webpage I wouldn’t expect to see Google Analytics, but instead something like Piwik.
I’d argue the root cause is more that Mozilla is willing to trade away privacy for developer convenience. Oh, not arguing that. Even with Google out of the picture entirely, Telemetry is a nice example. But I'd argue it is needed to stay relevant as a browser. So it's not a good counterargument to Mozilla's decision here. You can see from the relevant bugs that GA vs Piwik and such were certainly considered, so peopl…
The only reason people use Firefox nowadays is because they don’t trust Google. The intersection between "Trusts Google not to abuse data they get access to" and "uses Firefox" is the empty set.
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>> broad compatibility with websites > a browser which has privacy as a core principle Sorry, but sad truth is, those two things are mutually exclusive. The modern web is all about running pieces of code. Websites give you a code and expect you to run it (or they'll break). You can throw in some heuristics (e.g. blacklist known offenders and replace them with do-nothing shims) and try to keep up with the ever-changin…
Wouldn't it be possible for a browser to implement js but simply not implement any functions that can be used to track you?
It's probably realistically possible to disable those with the existing browsers. Problem is, that will also break sites that expect you to have all those available. And it's said that there are too many of those (I never saw a proper analysis, though)
Just consider: there are sites (one of my favorite pizza delivery sites does that) that break if you just block Google Analytics ga.js (or their newer versions, whatever they're called) scripts. Just because they have stuff like `_gaq.push` hardcoded into click handlers and if those raise exceptions, they fail.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> broad compatibility with websites > a browser which has privacy as a core principle Sorry, but sad truth is, those two things are mutually exclusive. The modern web is all about running pieces of code. Websites give you a code and expect you to run it (or they'll break). You can throw in some heuristics (e.g. blacklist known offenders and replace them with do-nothing shims) and try to keep up with the ever-changin…
Wouldn't it be possible for a browser to implement js but simply not implement any functions that can be used to track you?
What's the status of blocking third-party cookies again? (cries)
I am really wondering why they want to replace xul addons with the web extension ones when they are so weak compared to the xul ones?
What browser should users opt for if they want performance, broad compatibility with websites and absolutely no tracking/analytics? Preferably open source and cross platform.
At this point, you need to take things into your own hands and modify your hosts file: http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/