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The Mullvad Browser

mullvad.net

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Re: The Mullvad Browser

#82
I am disappointed to see that it doesn't integrate with Mullvad VPN at all. I have Mullvad VPN but I use it too less because I don't want all traffic on my mac going via VPN (e.g all kinds of random IDEs and websites). All I want is one browser which always uses VPN. But Mullvad has no split tunneling on mac AFAIK, and on windows also you can only block some apps from VPN, instead of saying that only this application will use VPN. This is one feature I really miss from PIA.

Re: The Mullvad Browser

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't though. I don't use Mullvad VPN.

Okay so probably this browser isn't for you

You can actually disable DoH by going to: Settings > General > Network Settings > Settings

Then either untick "Enable DNS over HTTPS" or add a custom DoH.

Re: The Mullvad Browser

#85
post #31

From the FAQ [0]: > Why is the time is wrong? > The timezone is spoofed, to combat fingerprinting. > What's this weird spacing around the websites? > It’s called letterboxing, a function to combat fingerprinting (using your browser window size to identify you together with other measures). > How do I stay logged into specific websites between sessions? > It’s not possible. It’s an action to combat tracking. Not sure…

Except most of the time I don't want to spoof my timezone, don't want weird spacing around websites, and do want to remain logged in to websites. > How do I stay logged into specific websites between sessions? > It’s not possible. It’s an action to combat tracking. Turns me off immediately

Well, I’d say this is largely privacy theater for hobbyists. Like a lot of other hobbies, unreasonable suffering is often part of the fun and creates a sense of belonging. What sets you apart if you’re just browsing like every other mortal?

Edit: As mentioned elsewhere in the thread, there are still plenty of identifying bits.

Re: The Mullvad Browser

#86

So ... 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script blocking, and dns lookups done via Mullvads encrypted dns service Sounds ok to me, I have a longish and probably out of date list of settings that I like to chance in a new instance of firefox.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 o…

AFIK it's a "fork" of the tor-browser (which is a fork of Firefox) but instead of connecting to the tor network you connect to a VPN. So you get all the in-browser tracking protection Firefox has (e.g. against fingerprinting) + the ones only the Tor browser has but without the drawbacks of the tor network and in turn without onion security.

Does the tor browser fork stay up to date quickly? I would be quite worried about stale browsers in this day and age, to an extent at least

Re: The Mullvad Browser

#87
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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/

Indeed, my fingerprint in https://www.amiunique.org/fp appears to be unique when using the Mullvad browser.

I've tested the site with the Tor Browser and it told me "Yes! You are unique". I've downloaded my fingerprint, closed the Tor Browser and did it again and again it was unique. So they couldn't link the two sessions together which is good. A jsondiff of the downloaded files only showed "canvas" as different which I guess gets generated randomly on every visit?

Re: The Mullvad Browser

#88

I like Mullvad but it can actually be challenging to purchase a subscription in the US. Most prepaid cards block the purchase. Sure, you can use it with a fully tracked card etc. but that's not really the target audience.

They accept bitcoin and even offer a discount

Re: The Mullvad Browser

#89
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have a longish and probably out of date list of settings that I like to chance in a new instance of firefox Not a user but part of the purpose of the TOR fork is settings, anything that is detectable via JS is supposed to remain default to prevent fingerprinting. It's partly why it's not widely popular, I don't know if this is still true but it used to be that it was supposed to be run at a specific viewport reso…

> run at a specific viewport resolution regardless of your device. It's more like pretending to the website that your screen has a "common" resolution etc. which is nearly but not quite the same as what you said. In the past they semi required you to keep your tor window in a specific window size for this, which just didn't work well in practice. By now they better integrated that in the browser from what I heard, so…

Not sure how it's designed but if I was designing a system of reducing detectable entropy from viewport size, I'd make a fixed list of available resolutions. First all the common resolutions (1920x1080, 2550x14540 and so on), and in addition to that maybe just "snapped" grid sizes in 64p pixel increments. If you use a window size that doesn't match, it should just render the viewport to the closest smaller allowed size, and fill the border with something (e.g. the background color of the page). Perhaps that's exactly how it works?
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