An Update on Firefox Containers • Hacker News Board

Re: An Update on Firefox Containers

#61

Post by digikata » Thu, Oct 05, 2017, 4:27 AM UTC

c0nducktr wrote: post #51

nicklaf wrote: post #21

Any reason why new tabs shouldn't create an entirely new, isolated container by default? And then allow the user to close tabs implicitly by performing a merge operation with some existing container (say, dragging with the mouse with a hotkey held down onto an existing tab group representing a single container)? And alternatively, "merging" with the empty container, which would retroactively implement incognito mode…

You might like the "Containers On The Go" addon. It adds a second new tab button which will create a container for the new tab it creates, which then is deleted as soon as you close the tab. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/containers-on... Someone also made a theme which will color the temporary container windows a different color so you can easily differentiate them from the normal tabs/windows. https…

I wish they would create a "private" container that is equivalent to the private browsing window. This sounds pretty close...

Re: An Update on Firefox Containers

#62

Post by sitepodmatt » Thu, Oct 05, 2017, 5:19 AM UTC

Can I memory limit them, e.g. when slack exceeds 300mb kill and restart container?

Re: An Update on Firefox Containers

#63

Post by diafygi » Thu, Oct 05, 2017, 5:20 AM UTC

fish_fan wrote: post #57

gavinpc wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haven't used the feature, but can you whitelist cookies on a per-container basis? If so, then I'm in. If container Y is only going to open website X, then just block all other cookies.

Yes, you can. The cookie settings are per-container (and there’s a surprising amount of customization per domain, though I wish it had decent wildcard support, it turns out to not be much of an issue).

I think what parent meant was: if I use one container for webmail, can I set it to remember my webmail cookie, but not any cookies from links I open from my email?

Is there now an option to whitelist specific origins, and block all other cookies by default?

Re: An Update on Firefox Containers

#64

Post by godelski » Thu, Oct 05, 2017, 5:28 AM UTC

Is there a way I can convert a current tab to a container? I press by default and maybe I want to sort it later. That is, without opening a new container and copy pasting the address.

Re: An Update on Firefox Containers

#65

Post by thesimp » Thu, Oct 05, 2017, 5:43 AM UTC

I just installed the container add-on and I miss a basic function: how do I open a bookmark in a container? The "open link in new container tab" seems to be missing if I right click on a bookmark.

Re: An Update on Firefox Containers

#66

Post by cpeterso » Thu, Oct 05, 2017, 6:41 AM UTC

colemickens wrote: post #27

So is "Containers" being removed from Firefox? Or it will only live in Nightly ever? So confusing. edit: From some experimenting, it looks like "Firefox Multi-Account Containers" extension extends the "Container Tabs" feature in Firefox. (This is an assumption based on the fact that the Options/Preferences now tell me I can't disable "Container Tabs" since "Ff MA Containers" is using it.

The container functionality is exposed in a WebExtension API called "Contextual Identities" (in Firefox 53+). Designing a user-friendly UI/UX for containers will take time, so the API enables extension developers to experiment with new ideas before Mozilla commits to something.

https://developer.mozilla.org/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/cont...

Re: An Update on Firefox Containers

#67

Post by grandpoobah » Thu, Oct 05, 2017, 7:08 AM UTC

Here's what I've just done -

* Cleared all cookies for Facebook and Google

* Created a new container called "No tracking"

* Set facebook, gmail, analytics, youtube and all google services other than Search to always open in "No tracking"

Now in theory Facebook and Google can't track me across the web (at least not in a way that it's linked to my real identity), and I don't have to do anything to maintain this.

Anybody see any faults in my logic?

Re: An Update on Firefox Containers

#68

Post by Sujan » Thu, Oct 05, 2017, 7:25 AM UTC

grandpoobah wrote: post #67

Here's what I've just done - * Cleared all cookies for Facebook and Google * Created a new container called "No tracking" * Set facebook, gmail, analytics, youtube and all google services other than Search to always open in "No tracking" Now in theory Facebook and Google can't track me across the web (at least not in a way that it's linked to my real identity), and I don't have to do anything to maintain this. Anybod…

Yes: IP address.

Re: An Update on Firefox Containers

#69

Post by lucideer » Thu, Oct 05, 2017, 7:35 AM UTC

For me, the most significant part of this announcement is the breaking out of this feature into an extension. Some interesting questions

- Does this represent a deprioritisation of the feature by Mozilla (it would seem not, since there's an explicit WebExtensions API just for this, but I'm curious to see how the level of maintenance of the extension UI keeps up with browser changes going forward)

- This seems like the first major WebExtensions API that Firefox has added post 57 (though it was available with a flag before) that no other browser supports[0]. Does the represent Mozilla's future policy w.r.t. WebExtensions in general - i.e. building out the API with Firefox-specific features? This could be good for differentiating Firefox again, but probably more work for devs creating cross-browser extensions.

[0] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/AP...

Re: An Update on Firefox Containers

#70

Post by lucideer » Thu, Oct 05, 2017, 7:47 AM UTC

grandpoobah wrote: post #67

Here's what I've just done - * Cleared all cookies for Facebook and Google * Created a new container called "No tracking" * Set facebook, gmail, analytics, youtube and all google services other than Search to always open in "No tracking" Now in theory Facebook and Google can't track me across the web (at least not in a way that it's linked to my real identity), and I don't have to do anything to maintain this. Anybod…

What Sujan said (IP address), and also:

- Storing visits across the web on different sites that use 3rd-party Google/Facebook-hosted services against a shadow session. Google Analytics, Google Maps, Google Web Fonts, Google CDN / JSON APIs, share buttons.

- I presume you don't login with Facebook / Google on any websites? If you do, that would conclusively link the aforementioned shadow session with your actual account.

- Also, there are integrated browser services calling home to Google. Check about:config?filter=google

---

Edit: For an extra step to mitigate some of the above:

Install either uBlock Origin or uMatrix and painstakingly block all of the above-mentioned 3rd-party origins: analytics, web fonts, share URLs, login APIs, CDNs and JSON APIs. Blocking the last two will break some websites - e.g. Stackoverflow - but you can further mitigate this breakage by installing the Decentraleyes extension.