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I just added the "Facebook Container" extension to my Firefox browser. I am hoping it will prevent most of Facebook's tracking, but I do know that it probably w

I just added the "Facebook Container" extension to my Firefox browser. I am hoping it will prevent most of Facebook's tracking, but I do know that it probably won't block all the tracking.

jmngomes 9y ago
Won't ublock [1] solve that by blocking that kind of scripts from loading? [1] https://www.ublock.org/ https://www.ublock.org/
- munk-a 9y ago
  There are other ways that facebook can track you, ublock does counter a lot of it but there is a constant stream of innovations and work arounds by tracking companies to keep a hold on you. I think the financial motivation for them to keep tracking you outweighs the effort ublock can put into stopping that. The firefox container is a legitimately novel approach to stopping the problem though I'm certain it will be attacked as well... I think starting from a stance of distrust gives them a lot more power to combat tracking efforts.
  - schiffern 9y ago
    Strange to disparage uBlock Origin while praising Facebook Container, because the latter is weaker than the former. uBlock Origin with either "Fanboy's Third Party Social" or "Fanboy's Social Blocking List" selected will block all third-party connections to Facebook servers, period. Of course Facebook can still spy on you via other spy companies, but the "EasyPrivacy" list cuts that down a lot too. On the other hand, Facebook Container still happily connect to Facebook servers from third-party websites, leaking your IP, useragent, the URL of the webpage you're viewing, headers containing fingerprinting information like fonts , etc. Facebook Container does one thing and one thing only: strip off the Facebook cookie. But this is almost worthless from an information theoretic perspective, because Facebook can trivially de-anonymize you through IP/timestamp/header correlation.
    - peteretep 9y ago
      > Facebook Container still happily connect to Facebook servers from third-party websites What? How do you open a non-Facebook website in the Facebook container? When you open external links on Facebook, from the Facebook container, they open in the normal container.
      - JetSpiegel 9y ago
        The like button on third party websites sends a request to Facebook servers.
- alibert 9y ago
  FYI, uBlock (without 'Origin') is not the recommended one. The original is maintained by gorhill and it's available from https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock
- chrischen 9y ago
  I highly recommend Ghostery.
- julioneander 9y ago
  I recommend Privacy Badger, sponsored by the EFF, which is supposed to block trackers. I prefer it over Ghostery, which is backed by some company. uBlock Origin is great for blocking Ads though. If you really need to block scripts, there's NoScript. I recommend using at least the adblocker and the tracker blocker, even if only to reduce memory usage of the browser and take back a couple of CPU cycles from your computer stolen by pesky ads.
  - cheeze 9y ago
    Not to mention that ghostery used to sell your data to advertisers. I think they stopped, but how ironic can it get!?
  - MandieD 9y ago
    uBlock Origin + Privacy Badger are my combo of choice. They play nicely together, and are easy enough to deal with that my non-web-savvy father-in-law surfs comfortably with them. Privacy Badger's most glaring weakness is that it takes a new install of the plugin awhile to learn that Facebook, fbcdn, etc are up to no good, but once it catches on, it’s great.
    - millak 9y ago
      I've always wondered how well Privacy Badger works if you also have third-party cookies disabled - is there any benefit in that case?
    - redwall_hp 9y ago
      Privacy Badger is also based on AdBlock Plus's code, which is a weakness in itself. The entire reason uBlock Origin exists is because of inefficiencies with ABP that the author thought could be avoided. I just check the privacy list options in uBlock Origin. https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-vs.-ABP:-efficiency-compared https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-vs.-ABP:-effic...
DesiLurker 9y ago
yup likewise. I noticed their 'opt out for interest based ads' was through a cookie set by some consortium of creeps companies. at the time I remember thinking its like 'if I dont want you to track and follow me all over the internet then I need to allow you to track me and follow me all over the place so you know who I am.. Riiight'. plus that setting resets if you delete the cookie. so I dont know how will that work with the container. perhaps somebody who knows more can enlighten me. honestly given that FB is after my healthcare data, my patience has worn quite thin with them. IMHO the creep factor and unintended consequences are way to many.
- ntoeiusn43stot 9y ago
  > given that FB is after my healthcare data What? Can you provide a link to that? I hadn't heard this before, and find that really disturbing. I'd like to learn more.
  - detaro 9y ago
    they might be referring to this: https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/5/17203262/facebook-medical-data-sharing-plan-healthcare https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/5/17203262/facebook-medical-...
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

I just added the "Facebook Container" extension to my Firefox browser. I am hoping it will prevent most of Facebook's tracking, but I do know that it probably won't block all the tracking.

jmngomes 9y ago

Won't ublock [1] solve that by blocking that kind of scripts from loading? [1] https://www.ublock.org/ https://www.ublock.org/

munk-a 9y ago
There are other ways that facebook can track you, ublock does counter a lot of it but there is a constant stream of innovations and work arounds by tracking companies to keep a hold on you. I think the financial motivation for them to keep tracking you outweighs the effort ublock can put into stopping that. The firefox container is a legitimately novel approach to stopping the problem though I'm certain it will be attacked as well... I think starting from a stance of distrust gives them a lot more power to combat tracking efforts.
- schiffern 9y ago
  Strange to disparage uBlock Origin while praising Facebook Container, because the latter is weaker than the former. uBlock Origin with either "Fanboy's Third Party Social" or "Fanboy's Social Blocking List" selected will block all third-party connections to Facebook servers, period. Of course Facebook can still spy on you via other spy companies, but the "EasyPrivacy" list cuts that down a lot too. On the other hand, Facebook Container still happily connect to Facebook servers from third-party websites, leaking your IP, useragent, the URL of the webpage you're viewing, headers containing fingerprinting information like fonts , etc. Facebook Container does one thing and one thing only: strip off the Facebook cookie. But this is almost worthless from an information theoretic perspective, because Facebook can trivially de-anonymize you through IP/timestamp/header correlation.
  - peteretep 9y ago
    > Facebook Container still happily connect to Facebook servers from third-party websites What? How do you open a non-Facebook website in the Facebook container? When you open external links on Facebook, from the Facebook container, they open in the normal container.
    - JetSpiegel 9y ago
      The like button on third party websites sends a request to Facebook servers.
alibert 9y ago
FYI, uBlock (without 'Origin') is not the recommended one. The original is maintained by gorhill and it's available from https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock
chrischen 9y ago
I highly recommend Ghostery.
julioneander 9y ago
I recommend Privacy Badger, sponsored by the EFF, which is supposed to block trackers. I prefer it over Ghostery, which is backed by some company. uBlock Origin is great for blocking Ads though. If you really need to block scripts, there's NoScript. I recommend using at least the adblocker and the tracker blocker, even if only to reduce memory usage of the browser and take back a couple of CPU cycles from your computer stolen by pesky ads.
- cheeze 9y ago
  Not to mention that ghostery used to sell your data to advertisers. I think they stopped, but how ironic can it get!?
- MandieD 9y ago
  uBlock Origin + Privacy Badger are my combo of choice. They play nicely together, and are easy enough to deal with that my non-web-savvy father-in-law surfs comfortably with them. Privacy Badger's most glaring weakness is that it takes a new install of the plugin awhile to learn that Facebook, fbcdn, etc are up to no good, but once it catches on, it’s great.
  - millak 9y ago
    I've always wondered how well Privacy Badger works if you also have third-party cookies disabled - is there any benefit in that case?
  - redwall_hp 9y ago
    Privacy Badger is also based on AdBlock Plus's code, which is a weakness in itself. The entire reason uBlock Origin exists is because of inefficiencies with ABP that the author thought could be avoided. I just check the privacy list options in uBlock Origin. https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-vs.-ABP:-efficiency-compared https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/uBlock-vs.-ABP:-effic...

DesiLurker 9y ago

yup likewise. I noticed their 'opt out for interest based ads' was through a cookie set by some consortium of creeps companies. at the time I remember thinking its like 'if I dont want you to track and follow me all over the internet then I need to allow you to track me and follow me all over the place so you know who I am.. Riiight'. plus that setting resets if you delete the cookie. so I dont know how will that work with the container. perhaps somebody who knows more can enlighten me. honestly given that FB is after my healthcare data, my patience has worn quite thin with them. IMHO the creep factor and unintended consequences are way to many.

ntoeiusn43stot 9y ago
> given that FB is after my healthcare data What? Can you provide a link to that? I hadn't heard this before, and find that really disturbing. I'd like to learn more.
- detaro 9y ago
  they might be referring to this: https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/5/17203262/facebook-medical-data-sharing-plan-healthcare https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/5/17203262/facebook-medical-...

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]