4 ms·
ASK HN: Request for macOS browser recommendations
Can I get your opinion on which browser I should be running for macOS from a security & privacy standpoint?
My current setup is Safari 11.0.3 w/ ‘Prevent cross-site tracking’ & ‘Ask websites not to track me’ enabled. I also have the extension Better (2017.4) installed.
(I have Brave (0.21.18) installed as a backup, but rarely use it.)
Would I be better using eg. Chrome w/ Certbot, HTTPS Everywhere, Privacy Badger or similar?
One reason I ask is I’ve seen recommendations re. physical U2F devices. I use a password manager and 2FA wherever available, but Chrome seems to be the only mainstream browser that handles 2FA at the moment.
Any and all advice gratefully received. Thanks, and sorry if I missed this topic on a search.
- natch 9y agoYou don't have to choose a browser. You can have multiple browsers and use each as needed for its strengths. Sort of sidestepping your question because I don't know either which browser is best from the standpoints you talk about. But I have other advice: One measure that helps a lot with privacy, though it doesn't solve everything, is to use your own private VPN hosted on a service like Digital Ocean. I do this with Firefox. Unfortunately Safari doesn't have a per-app setting for proxies (it's system-wide or nothing with Safari last time I checked), otherwise I would just use Safari. Anyway because I'm using a VPN, my ISP doesn't have a full record of every URL I've ever visited. Digital Ocean would be in a position to have a full record, but at least that's not a business they are actively trying to monetize as far as I can tell, unlike, sadly, my ISP.
- aswfyi 9y agoThanks. I have used a couple of VPNs in the past, but it’s not an ‘every session’ thing for me. Should it be?