Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

LibreWolf – Custom version of Firefox, focused on privacy, security and freedom

librewolf.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 178 posts

Re: LibreWolf – Custom version of Firefox, focused on privacy, security and freedom

#31

Post by gabereiser »

mangecoeur wrote: post #27
sneak wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mozilla ships Firefox with telemetry (aka spyware, given that it operates silently and automatically without consent) enabled by default. They also ship closed source DRM in the browser which infringes on software freedoms. Mozilla doesn't actually care that much about privacy or freedom, it's just marketing to make line go up and to the right while Mozilla staff can keep collecting paychecks for being "the good guys…

Telemetry and spyware are not the same thing (irrespective of whatever Firefox is doing). There is a big difference between tracking to try to understand how users are using a software or getting information on bugs and crashes, and tracking with the aim of monetizing personal data. I'm personally not crazy about telemetry implying information is uploaded to a software provider, but from experience I know that trying…

Tracking is tracking, no matter what outcomes you derive from it.

Re: LibreWolf – Custom version of Firefox, focused on privacy, security and freedom

#32

Post by ShowalkKama »

itvision wrote: post #26

The biggest problem with all these "privacy" oriented web browsers is that you have to trust their creators explicitly and I just cannot. Most often the developers are some random anonymous Joes without CVs or anything proving they have reputation at stake. Thank you, but no thank you. Even if the official Firefox "leaks" something it's well controlled and well known. What do these browsers do? I've no idea.

it's open source, you can simply look at the code (or, better, at the differences with firefox)

Re: LibreWolf – Custom version of Firefox, focused on privacy, security and freedom

#33

Post by gorjusborg »

Liquix wrote: post #20
Nextgrid wrote: post #4

There are many valid counterpoints on why you shouldn't trust/use this, but the mere existence of it raises a very valid point and calls Mozilla's BS; why does this fork exist at all if Mozilla supposedly cares about your privacy, security and freedom?

The lion's share of Mozilla's funding comes directly from Google [0]. The official reason is to feature G search as the default in Firefox, but it also conveniently keeps alive the only browser preventing antitrust action against chromium. They may want to care about freedom - or have cared at some point in the past - but at the end of the day they're beholden to Google in order to survive [0] https://www.pcmag.com/n…

> They may want to care about freedom - or have cared at some point in the past - but at the end of the day they're beholden to Google in order to survive

Which makes one wonder if the existence of a competitor is a good measure of whether a monopoly exists. If a company is funding its main competitor, is it really a competitor?

Google has a stranglehold on the browser market.

Re: LibreWolf – Custom version of Firefox, focused on privacy, security and freedom

#34

Post by BrotherBisquick »

extr0pian wrote: post #10

Just yesterday I had noticed that, "Suggestions from sponsors" in the address bar had been turned back on after a recent Firefox update, and then installed Librewolf. I really want to use it as my main browser, but certain use cases such as online banking (at least with my credit union) doesn't seem to work properly, so I re-disabled "Suggestions from sponsors" in Firefox and went on with my day. Seriously, changing…

[dead]

Re: LibreWolf – Custom version of Firefox, focused on privacy, security and freedom

#36

Post by dangus »

Nextgrid wrote: post #4

There are many valid counterpoints on why you shouldn't trust/use this, but the mere existence of it raises a very valid point and calls Mozilla's BS; why does this fork exist at all if Mozilla supposedly cares about your privacy, security and freedom?

The mere existence of a fork doesn’t prove anything one way or another. I can fork Firefox right now and say “It’s Firefox but without the code that the aliens use to abduct people.”

Mozilla gets a some heat from the tech community for their pretty reasonable business model. I’ve seen Firefox be accused of being just about as bad as Chrome when it comes to user privacy and product monetization.

To me that has always felt like a “both sides are the same” argument.

In other words, not all telemetry is created equal.

Re: LibreWolf – Custom version of Firefox, focused on privacy, security and freedom

#37

Post by [deleted] »

maccard wrote: post #28
sneak wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mozilla ships Firefox with telemetry (aka spyware, given that it operates silently and automatically without consent) enabled by default. They also ship closed source DRM in the browser which infringes on software freedoms. Mozilla doesn't actually care that much about privacy or freedom, it's just marketing to make line go up and to the right while Mozilla staff can keep collecting paychecks for being "the good guys…

> Mozilla ships Firefox with telemetry (aka spyware, given that it operates silently and automatically without consent) enabled by default. So opt out of it. Calling it spyware is inflammatory, and disregards the reality of the world that we exist in. > It's just marketing to make line go up and to the right while Mozilla staff can keep collecting paychecks for being "the good guys". There's a lot of money involved.…

[deleted]

Re: LibreWolf – Custom version of Firefox, focused on privacy, security and freedom

#39

Post by Astronaut3315 »

ShowalkKama wrote: post #32
itvision wrote: post #26

The biggest problem with all these "privacy" oriented web browsers is that you have to trust their creators explicitly and I just cannot. Most often the developers are some random anonymous Joes without CVs or anything proving they have reputation at stake. Thank you, but no thank you. Even if the official Firefox "leaks" something it's well controlled and well known. What do these browsers do? I've no idea.

it's open source, you can simply look at the code (or, better, at the differences with firefox)

Just like that North Korean symbol downloader on GitHub, which had a malware downloader hidden in plain sight for nearly a year with no one noticing?

Re: LibreWolf – Custom version of Firefox, focused on privacy, security and freedom

#40

Post by lucgommans »

beardog wrote: post #22
lucgommans wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very interesting website! I submitted it[1] because it's quite the eye-opener for me (e.g. blob tracking is new to me, and if you click on the cell, it shows you PoC test code!) and I had missed its previous submission two years ago. Brave, Librewolf, Mullvad, and Tor hide the user's screen dimensions, whereas Firefox and Chrome don't. I'm curious, how often does that break things? I imagine that quite a few sites us…

>I'm curious, how often does that break things? Pretty much never. They hide it by changing it. This results in a margin around your view port that is fitted to one of several common dimensions. Since they are common, nearly all websites look okay in it.

Oh I see! I know that from the Tor browser, didn't realise they all do it that way.
Post reply on HN