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

librewolf.net

81–90 of 178 posts

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

#81
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mozilla has been frustrating, at least to me lately. I want to support them, but very little of the money given to them goes to the browser itself or even their research projects, and the "phoning home" aspect also annoys me. On top of that they are also heavily funded by Google. My personal theory on why they do that is so they don't get hit with an antitrust. Its concerning to me though because that means Google ha…

> but very little of the money given to them goes to the browser itself or even their research projects hi, do you have a breakdown or some stats for this?

not him. but there's this person whose paycheck is 7digits. pretty sure the person in question doesn't know a lick about rendering engine or other nitty gritty details of how browser works.

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

#83
post #73

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…

I’ve had problems with e-commerce as well. Recently I tried this with Nike & the checkout phase was trying to read all my sensors, canvas, etc. were all being hit & failing according to the console. Disabling fingerprinting let me get ‘further’ but even disabling uBlock, something on my network was blocking some other piece of tracking spyware & I couldn’t complete the checkout. I reported it to customer service & la…

> When are we going to get e-commerce & e-banking to stop being so hostile towards consumers?

"We" won't because the vast majority of internet users don't care about privacy. It sucks, but that's the way it is.

You and I, however, are free to vote with our wallets. I literally will not buy from a company or brand that tries to take advantage of me in some way, even if the alternatives are worse somehow. It's a drop in the bucket, but it's all I can do.

(And before someone mentions it, no, shouting about it on social media is not a valid action to take, because social media is where everybody shouts about everything all the time.)

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

#84

Disclaimer: I develop Waterfox. I think it’s worth noting that Librewolf provides unsigned binaries and at least on Windows, you need to trust a third party service to provide automatic updates.

Fair warning. But wasn't Waterfox sold to System1 - "an advertising company that tries to "make advertising better and safer, while respecting consumer privacy" - https://www.ghacks.net/2020/02/14/waterfox-web-browser-sold-... ? I'd feel a lot safer to use a browser that is not owned by an ad company ...

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

#85
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mozilla has been frustrating, at least to me lately. I want to support them, but very little of the money given to them goes to the browser itself or even their research projects, and the "phoning home" aspect also annoys me. On top of that they are also heavily funded by Google. My personal theory on why they do that is so they don't get hit with an antitrust. Its concerning to me though because that means Google ha…

> but very little of the money given to them goes to the browser itself or even their research projects hi, do you have a breakdown or some stats for this?

Here is Mozilla's 2021 Audited Financial Statement [PDF]:

https://assets.mozilla.net/annualreport/2021/mozilla-fdn-202...

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

#86
post #83
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve had problems with e-commerce as well. Recently I tried this with Nike & the checkout phase was trying to read all my sensors, canvas, etc. were all being hit & failing according to the console. Disabling fingerprinting let me get ‘further’ but even disabling uBlock, something on my network was blocking some other piece of tracking spyware & I couldn’t complete the checkout. I reported it to customer service & la…

> When are we going to get e-commerce & e-banking to stop being so hostile towards consumers? "We" won't because the vast majority of internet users don't care about privacy. It sucks, but that's the way it is. You and I, however, are free to vote with our wallets. I literally will not buy from a company or brand that tries to take advantage of me in some way, even if the alternatives are worse somehow. It's a drop i…

Don’t care or are ignorant about why they should care (even when they “have nothing to hide”)? I think this part of the these conversations get lost. Consumers care about privacy, even if just at a surface level as we’ve seen the megacorps change their messaging to trick folks into feeling they are safer. These consumers just don’t know what is at stake when they do something ‘foolish’ like running not using an ad blocker, browsing with Google Chrome, emailing with GMail, chatting in Discord, hosting code with Microsoft GitHub, sharing their contacts with WhatsApp, tweeting on X/x-ing on Twitter, etc. When it comes to e-commerce, often it’s the only way to get items now & when it comes to banks, they’re all blocking root “for our safety” but users not understanding their value doesn’t mean there is no value.

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

#87
post #81
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but very little of the money given to them goes to the browser itself or even their research projects hi, do you have a breakdown or some stats for this?

not him. but there's this person whose paycheck is 7digits. pretty sure the person in question doesn't know a lick about rendering engine or other nitty gritty details of how browser works.

Am I misreading the financial statement linked by your sibling comment? It looks like they spent in the $250,000 or so range on all salaries combined in a given year, but maybe I’m misreading it.

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

#88
post #87
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not him. but there's this person whose paycheck is 7digits. pretty sure the person in question doesn't know a lick about rendering engine or other nitty gritty details of how browser works.

Am I misreading the financial statement linked by your sibling comment? It looks like they spent in the $250,000 or so range on all salaries combined in a given year, but maybe I’m misreading it.

It's in thousands so it should be $250,000,000? I don't know that I'm reading it right either.

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

#89

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.

>you have to trust their creators explicitly

Yes, and that same issue stands for extensions that are essential for making the browser usable. Who uses Firefox without uBlock? I won't use a browser that lacks a feature rich vertical tabs solution and that requires me to use sidebery with Firefox. That essentially forces me to trust a host of extension creators that I know nothing about. Yes, source can be reviewed, but I don't have the chops to do it and it doesn't seem like there is a non-profit organization that is taking that on (why doesn't EFF?)

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