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Brave is a little better than Firefox in terms of trustworthiness: https://spyware.neocities.org/articles/browsers.html https://spyware.neocities.org/articles/b

by geowwy 8y ago

Brave is a little better than Firefox in terms of trustworthiness: https://spyware.neocities.org/articles/browsers.html https://spyware.neocities.org/articles/browsers.html Neither is great though.

simias 8y ago
This is clearly an opinion piece, not really an attempt at an objective evaluation of the browser's "trustworthiness" using objective metrics: >There is probably no corporation that has fooled its userbase more and for longer than Mozilla. Pretending to be your friend, it has for years ruined the customizability, privacy, and usability of its browser. The marketing team was, and still is, in full swing trying to spin every one of its shitty decisions positively. [...] The amount of spyware in both these browsers is massive - FF has the most, but it can all be disabled through an user.js script There's no denying that there have been some fuck ups in Mozilla in the past but it seems to me like the author has an axe to grind here. If they don't then they should at least reference their claims. I mean they call IE, Chrome and Opera "Botnet web browsers". I suppose they're referencing the 4chan meme and not actually saying that these browsers contain botnet code but I'm not sure if that makes it better.
- geowwy 8y ago
  It's not just an opinion that Firefox regularly phones home. It also uses privacy-hostile services such as Google Search by default. It has an economic incentive to do that since Google, etc. are the ones who fund them. As the website says your best options are GNU IceCat or Ungoogled Chromium with uMatrix and HTTPS Everywhere.
  - simias 8y ago
    I have my problems with some of Mozilla's marketing and technical decisions but saying that the browser contains a "massive" amount of spyware is ludicrous and doesn't exactly inform the reader. If the author listed more precisely their problems (like you just did for instance) then the reader could make an informed choice. Saying "Chrome is a botnet and Firefox is filled with spyware" is hogwash and disqualifies this page completely IMO.
  - kerberos84 8y ago
    It is not an evil thing to have "google search by default" and fund this browser with the money from google. Because people don't want to pay for it. Firefox doesn't stop you from changing the default search engine easily.
  - omnimus 8y ago
    Lets be realistic here. Mozilla is doing very good things for privacy and free software and it has arguably much bigger impact than GNU. The problem with real world is that change is gradular and things are about compromises. People will not start suddenly compile their own browser or dig github for browser they never heard of. They use Google and Gmail. Firefox surely knows that 70% of people will be pissed right there if google is not default browser so they atleast get money from google for it. It's compromise. They need money to compete with mainstream browsers and they have to make smart decisions about which compromise to make. Signal is getting similar shit for using google services for messaging. But it makes e2e encryption mainstream.

by geowwy 8y ago

Brave is a little better than Firefox in terms of trustworthiness: https://spyware.neocities.org/articles/browsers.html https://spyware.neocities.org/articles/browsers.html Neither is great though.

simias 8y ago

This is clearly an opinion piece, not really an attempt at an objective evaluation of the browser's "trustworthiness" using objective metrics: >There is probably no corporation that has fooled its userbase more and for longer than Mozilla. Pretending to be your friend, it has for years ruined the customizability, privacy, and usability of its browser. The marketing team was, and still is, in full swing trying to spin every one of its shitty decisions positively. [...] The amount of spyware in both these browsers is massive - FF has the most, but it can all be disabled through an user.js script There's no denying that there have been some fuck ups in Mozilla in the past but it seems to me like the author has an axe to grind here. If they don't then they should at least reference their claims. I mean they call IE, Chrome and Opera "Botnet web browsers". I suppose they're referencing the 4chan meme and not actually saying that these browsers contain botnet code but I'm not sure if that makes it better.

geowwy 8y ago
It's not just an opinion that Firefox regularly phones home. It also uses privacy-hostile services such as Google Search by default. It has an economic incentive to do that since Google, etc. are the ones who fund them. As the website says your best options are GNU IceCat or Ungoogled Chromium with uMatrix and HTTPS Everywhere.
- simias 8y ago
  I have my problems with some of Mozilla's marketing and technical decisions but saying that the browser contains a "massive" amount of spyware is ludicrous and doesn't exactly inform the reader. If the author listed more precisely their problems (like you just did for instance) then the reader could make an informed choice. Saying "Chrome is a botnet and Firefox is filled with spyware" is hogwash and disqualifies this page completely IMO.
- kerberos84 8y ago
  It is not an evil thing to have "google search by default" and fund this browser with the money from google. Because people don't want to pay for it. Firefox doesn't stop you from changing the default search engine easily.
- omnimus 8y ago
  Lets be realistic here. Mozilla is doing very good things for privacy and free software and it has arguably much bigger impact than GNU. The problem with real world is that change is gradular and things are about compromises. People will not start suddenly compile their own browser or dig github for browser they never heard of. They use Google and Gmail. Firefox surely knows that 70% of people will be pissed right there if google is not default browser so they atleast get money from google for it. It's compromise. They need money to compete with mainstream browsers and they have to make smart decisions about which compromise to make. Signal is getting similar shit for using google services for messaging. But it makes e2e encryption mainstream.