The question not answered: won't I stick out like a sore thumb if only 1 in 10000 people uses this browser?
The Mullvad Browser
11–20 of 434 posts
Re: The Mullvad Browser
#12So ... it is a fork of Mozilla Firefox with privacy-friendly settings by default, some script blocking, and dns lookups done via Mullvads encrypted dns service
Sounds ok to me, I have a longish and probably out of date list of settings that I like to chance in a new instance of firefox. I trust mullvad to not log dns more than I trust my ISP and I live in the UK so unencrypted dns here is being logged and stored by order of the government.
Keeping a fork of firefox in sync with mainline firefox to get security fixes is a load of work, it is good that somebody is doing it, in this case I think the tor project is doing a lot of the work.
Re: The Mullvad Browser
#13Hm that seems like a mistake. If I'm reading the docs right, the Mullvad browser will let you browse the web without using their/any VPN, which mean that it's entirely possible to accidentally surf to a site without having your VPN up, and reveal your IP address to that site. To contrast, there's no way to use the Tor Browser without using the onion network so it's ~impossible to accidentally browse to site and reveal your IP address, and not just the IP address of the exit node.
OpSec is hard, and tools letting you shoot yourself in the foot doesn't help. There are plenty of other browsers out there that don't offer VPN integration, so (imo) they should have made the browser a paid feature for customers, instead of giving it away for free like the market has demanded since IE6.
Re: The Mullvad Browser
#14I couldn't quite se it in the article - Is it based on Chromium or Firefox? If it's Firefox, that'll be a great win! Edit: Use Player6225 mentions it could be a hardened Firefox because it's based on the Tor browser
It's based on Firefox, and I am able to install Firefox extensions. With 1Password on it now, I think I am going to try this browser for a while.
Re: The Mullvad Browser
#15The last time I tried the Tor browser, it did not sufficiently handle browser finger prints. I don't have high expectations out of this project either, but at least they offer a firefox extension. I'd have to dig into it to determine how effective it is, but as it stands there are other firefox extensions that already do an excellent job.
> The last time I tried the Tor browser, it did not sufficiently handle browser finger prints. Can you expound on this?
Simply download the Tor browser and evaluate its performance on one of the many browser fingerprint [1][2] and browser leak [3][4] web services. The last time I checked, it didn't pass every test.
[1] https://www.amiunique.org/fp [2] https://coveryourtracks.eff.org/ [3] https://browserleaks.com/ [4] https://www.dnsleaktest.com/
Re: The Mullvad Browser
#16I hope there will be a mobile version too at some point.
I'd especially be interested in seeing how they implement on iOS, with Apple considering opening up options beyond WebKit:
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&page=0&prefix=fal...
Re: The Mullvad Browser
#17The question not answered: won't I stick out like a sore thumb if only 1 in 10000 people uses this browser?
Stick out to who? Just set the useragent to a default firefox one (assuming its not already set) and you're golden.
Re: The Mullvad Browser
#18I hope there will be a mobile version too at some point.
I'd especially be interested in seeing how they implement on iOS, with Apple considering opening up options beyond WebKit: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&page=0&prefix=fal...
Both Chrome and Firefox are working on native iOS versions in preperation for the expected opening up of iOS this year so would imagine they can just fork that and release their version.
Re: The Mullvad Browser
#19Can anyone explain how this won't, putting it diplomatically, attract certain 'dark web' types, and in turn bring mullvad under the microscope of law enforcement?
Re: The Mullvad Browser
#20I guess why not.
This is an open source, rebranded Firefox and Firefox-like browsers could use some publicity. It promotes privacy and privacy can use some publicity too. Tor too.
Mullvad seems to be honest in the fact that their business model is selling VPNs and it's nice they are saying it's not enough. They are not saying that you might not need one though.
We need a Firefox with good defaults and it seems like this browser is such a thing. I'd prefer these privacy features to be in upstream Firefox but I guess world is not perfect and that Firefox still relies on revenues from Google so can't be as privacy-focused as it should.
My little concern I guess is that this browser will push for their service so it's a bit like an ad for them, at least with its name. But fair enough, and at least the business model seems healthy.
With Mullvad already being a Mozilla partner for their branded VPN, all this actually look good. They seem to be spending their money on worthy stuff.