gotta love the fact that guide for privacy freaks is served via plain http :)
Firefox Configuration Guide for Privacy Freaks and Performance Buffs
31–40 of 125 posts
Re: Firefox Configuration Guide for Privacy Freaks and Performance Buffs
#32This isn't the most unreasonable list I've seen, but beware you will break many websites with this, so you need to be prepared to deal with the fallout. Notably, a lot of the breakage is hidden in user.js, including: * No WebGL or WebRTC * Aggressive TLS settings (will break many websites) * Mixed-content upgrading (Nightly ran an experiment on this recently and it also broke a lot of websites) * No history The text…
Yeah I've tried some of these extremely hardened configurations but ultimately there's too much breakage. My config now is basically: - uBlock Origin in default configuration - No 3rd party cookies (breaks some things, but not too many) - Clear history and cookies on exit Combined with an /etc/hosts file, and rather frequent browser restarts (generally daily).
> Clear history [..] on exit
Why the history? That's not readable by anyone except you, right?
> Clear [..] cookies on exit
So do you have to keep logging in to websites daily? Isn't that very annoying?
Re: Firefox Configuration Guide for Privacy Freaks and Performance Buffs
#33For privacy, on a linux box are there any downsides to simply creating one or more extra accounts, and running Firefox in them for privacy ('DISPLAY=:0 firefox')?. I use this approach to set up firefox as I like it on a spare account, then copy '.mozilla' to '.mozilla-base'. Then it's just a simple case of 'su -l guest' and (via a script) 'rm -fr ~/.mozilla; cp -a ~/.mozilla_base .mozilla; DISPLAY=:0 firefox; rm -fr ~/.mozilla' (actually the script deletes the local cache as well).
Net effect is that firefox starts exactly as I like, but forgets everything that happened in the session ('groundhog-day mode').
Edit: added 'su -l' step.
Edit: As an adendum, note that this technique can be extended to the complete 'guest' accounts as well, e.g. 'cd /home; rm -fr guest; cp -a guest.base guest; su -l guest'; the entire 'guest' account is then 'groundhog-dayed'.
#!/bin/sh
#
export DISPLAY=:0
# Set up clean copy
cd ~
rm -fr .mozilla
cp -a .mozilla_base .mozilla
cd - > /dev/null
#
/usr/local/bin/firefox $@
#
echo "Holding...."
sleep 2
echo "Cleaning...."
# Clean out junk (so we start clean next time)
cd ~
rm -fr .mozilla .cache/mozilla*
rm -fr .adobe
rm -fr .macromedia
cd - > /dev/nullRe: Firefox Configuration Guide for Privacy Freaks and Performance Buffs
#34Great article.
However, the days when we could install some plugins and tweak a few settings to restore our privacy are, unfortunately, pretty much over. There’s only so much a plugin can do when it doesn’t have access to the core APIs of the rendering engine or the network stack.
As long as Google and Firefox are incentivized to make money by ads, user tracking and all of the rest, they won’t stop.
Long story short: the business model of the web has to change from one where the default state is to monetize the invasion of our privacy to one where we can control who gets to advertise to us and that our attention is valuable; we should be paid for it.
In short, that’s what the Brave browser is all about: https://brave.com/com465. By default, it blocks ads, tracking scripts, fingerprinting and 3rd party cookies in such a way that most pages don’t break. It even blocks those cryptocurrency mining scripts that some sites like Salon are using: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/14/salon-disable-ad-blocker-or-....
Brave allows you to pay content creators with a cryptocurrency called Basic Attention Token (BAT) based on the amount of time spent on their sites or as a percentage of a monthly contribution. BAT is based on the Ethereum token standard.
Later this year, Brave users will be able to opt-in to getting paid to watch high quality, relevant ads if they wish. How? By using zero knowledge proofs, Brave can show you these ads without leaking your personal information, based on your browsing history, that never leaves your machine.
Be aware: Brave is in beta; it’s not done yet. It’s based on Chromium but the rest of the tech is under heavy development. It has come a long way in the 3-4 months I’ve been using it regularly. And there are lots of good things in store, including Tor on a per-tab basis, which I’m looking forward to: https://github.com/brave/browser-laptop/wiki/Brave-Tor-Suppo...
Brave runs on macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android; even if Brendan Eich of Javascript and Mozilla fame weren’t involved, I’d feel this is the spiritual successor to Firefox: https://brave.com/com465.
Re: Firefox Configuration Guide for Privacy Freaks and Performance Buffs
#35> C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\browser\features\ WOAH. That's some genuinely nasty stuff that no one would normally want on their machines AND visible only from an obscure about:support page AND with no clear way of disabling it, save for deleting .xpi files: followonsearch@mozilla.com.xpi [1] shield-recipe-client@mozilla.org.xpi [2] There are also these two that explicitly disrespect and ignore one's updating pr…
While I understand you not wanting Mozilla to be able to push urgent patches, this is (in my) opinion necessary in sufficently serious cases. Imagine a remote code execution hole in Firefox, being actively attacked through ad networks. In that situation, every minute counts, and an attack could perform serious damage.
Re: Firefox Configuration Guide for Privacy Freaks and Performance Buffs
#36One thing not mentioned in the list is Firefox Multi-Account Containers [1]. It helps by segregating your on-line information (cookies) into separate containers that you set up. It doesn't stop sites pulling all cookies, but it reduces the amount of information being sent: only the information in the same container is accessible. [1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account...
I abandoned that. Mukti containers have lots and lots of usability issues.
I had some tabs (mostly YouTube) opened thrice when clicking on a YT link.
They don't automatically switch back to the default container. That's a big problem. You open your FB container (and Firefox can do this automatically when entering a FB URL or following a link there), you follow a link elsewhere or enter another URL, and you keep inadvertantly surfing in the FB container for the next hour.
Re: Firefox Configuration Guide for Privacy Freaks and Performance Buffs
#37Wow, this is a great post. Thank you for taking the time to write this up. I've been using Firefox for a while now, but kept most settings fairly close to the defaults. I'm unhappy with many of their defaults, but hadn't been motivated to start tweaking stuff. I'll note that disabling custom fonts breaks certain sites. I don't consider it a deal-breaker, but it's worth being aware. Many sites abuse fonts for icons. D…
> Since we're already on the topic of configuring Firefox, I have a tangential question. Does anyone know how to configure Firefox to automatically save rar files? You usually receive the option to always save different file types, but the choice isn't available for rar files, so you always receive a download popup.
Maybe I'm missing something but for me, going to the Options tab, selecting General tab, then going to the Applications section and modifying the entry for RAR file in the list from 'Always Ask' to 'Save file' does the job.
Does it work for you?
For your second question, how about Wireshark? It's open source and does let you inspect the traffic.
Re: Firefox Configuration Guide for Privacy Freaks and Performance Buffs
#38One thing not mentioned in the list is Firefox Multi-Account Containers [1]. It helps by segregating your on-line information (cookies) into separate containers that you set up. It doesn't stop sites pulling all cookies, but it reduces the amount of information being sent: only the information in the same container is accessible. [1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account...
This is great and fairly simple to use. I personally use it to separate out Google into its own container, but it is also more practically useful to allow you to login to the same site with different accounts.
It just works! But, the one problem that I've encountered is clicking links in gmail cause them to be opened within the Google container.
Re: Firefox Configuration Guide for Privacy Freaks and Performance Buffs
#39Also check out Firefox's "privacy.resistFingerprinting" [1] and "privacy.firstparty.isolate" [2] prefs in about:config. These are Tor privacy features that Tor and Mozilla are merging into Firefox. resistFingerprinting reduces the uniqueness of various Firefox properties that are visible to JavaScript and web servers. First-party isolation will isolate third-party cookies by first-party domain. So Facebook Like butto…
Is there any reason not to just block third-party cookies ("Accept third-party cookies: Never" in settings) all-together? I've never encountered anything breaking as a result of doing this.
Re: Firefox Configuration Guide for Privacy Freaks and Performance Buffs
#40> Firefox Configuration Guide for Privacy Freaks and Performance Buffs
I'm surprised that this post is linked to a non-https URL while the website supports https.
I wish HN have some policy/recommendation to prefer https URLs to non-https one (if the URL support both).