I’m currently using LibreWolf (a Firefox fork) as my primary browser, with uBlock Origin set to block scripts by default on all but a few sites. When i need to use a site that’s not one of these trusted ones and refuses to work without JS (for example, forums.linuxmint.com), is it better for my privacy to temporarily allow JS or to open the site in a different browser like FF or Vivaldi?
Does switching browsers actually make it harder to track me, especially ones that don’t have full modern CSS and JS support like Dillo, Links2, Alhena, and NetSurf?
If you’re worried about cross-site tracking, specifically, take a look at Cromite, the browser.
Going beyond Adblock, it’s stuffed with “anti fingerprinting” measures like randomizing your resolution and time, your hardware and drivers, JS execution speed, anything that could be used to try and uniquely identify your PC. It’s SOTA at that as far as I know.
Sounds like exactly what you need as a “backup browser”, as its designed to anti-fingerprint with JS enabled, neutering certain JS feature’s by default.
…But that’s just one form of privacy. If you are worried about any entity logging your visited IPs, you use a Tor browser or something like Mullad.
something like mullad
Mullvad* Browser
I’ve been a two browser person for over 20 years. It might not be for everyone, but I do all my browser activity that has an information risk (banking certain types of ordering, health access, etc.) on one browser with a specific security profile to protect those sessions, and all my other browsing on a FireFox variant locked down with NoScript, Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin, etc.
This means that I always reach for the properly configured tool when doing something online, and attempts at phishing have one more hurdle to clear. Default browser points to a fully locked down profile, so any stray clicks will do minimal damage. Sites I know are sandboxed and not allowed to access anything on the rest of the Internet.
This configuration isn’t for everyone, but I’ve been on the Internet for over 35 years and still seem to have a reasonable amount of privacy and security.
Small advice, uBlock origin already does what NoScript can do and more. And privacy badger should not be used.
NoScript: Redundant with uBlock Origin
Privacy Badger: no longer uses heuristics by default, and enabling it makes you easily detected
Got this info from the ArkenFox Github
Tracking from WHOM and thus WHY should be the question.
It’s different to be tracked for profit, e.g. Google or Meta, versus for political or corporate espionage purposes.
The former is basically volunteering information through bad practices. Those companies do NOT care about “you” as an individual. In fact they arguably do not even know who you are. Avoiding their services is basically enough. It might be inconvenient but it’s easy : just do not.
The later is a totally different beast. If somehow the FSB, because you criticized Putin, or NSO Group, for something similar or because you have engineer something strategic to a business competitor who is a client of theirs, then you will be specifically targeted. This is an entirely different situation and IMHO radically more demanding. You basically don’t have to just care about privacy good practices, which is enough for the former, but rather know the state of the art of security.
So… assuming you “just” worry about surveillance capitalism and hopefully live in a jurisdiction benefiting from the Brussels effect with e.g GDPR related laws, either way is fine.
Treating Google and Meta as apolitical in contrast to the scaaaary foreign entities - when they are currently aiding genocide and more-spectacular-than-usual immigration cruelties - is a particularly funny example of how liberal rhetoric rapidly ages out of relevance to its own premises. If you ever read about the Cold War and wonder why people were so easily duped by McCarthyism, just examine your own thought processes. Little changed.
On a more practical note, most people are concerned with personal safety, not ideology, so entities that will block you & have you arrested for political reasons e.g. Microsoft, Meta, and Google are far from ideal for Americans. If your beliefs are still outside that expansive group of reasons just sit tight you’ll probably care in time. Russians should avoid Russian services. You get the idea
Treating Google and Meta as apolitical …
I didn’t.
Why not go for an even more hardened browser like Mullvad or Tor if you are so worried about privacy while browsing regular stuff?
LibreWolf is my primary browser as well, so it’s for daily, non-sensitive, use, so I have JS enabled because, well, non-sensitive stuff, and it’s just a main-online identity, but I do use other browsers for other stuff, and change my VPN when I’m going for other “identity” too.A browser is only a secudary problem in privacy, if you use another than Chrome or Edge, it’s mainly the search engine you use the problem, the sites you visit, the mail you use, the data you publish, your common sense online, there are the main privacy holes.
