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> at the very least you can distribute your app independently without jailbreaking the phone. The discussion in the article is about developers. If you’re kick

> at the very least you can distribute your app independently without jailbreaking the phone. The discussion in the article is about developers. If you’re kicked off of Play by a robot, there’s nothing you can do. > with ads-blocking extensions and everything, as the default browser. Ad-blocking is easy and well-supported in Safari. Safari’s tracking prevention extends far beyond anything Firefox has even with the best extensions.

lol768 7y ago
>Ad-blocking is easy and well-supported in Safari. Safari’s tracking prevention extends far beyond anything Firefox has even with the best extensions. Do you have any links so I can read further on this? I'd like to compare it to both Firefox's built-in tracking protection (and fingerprinting resistance) and the functionality provided by e.g. uBlock Origin.
- xvector 7y ago
  Not any links on hand, but try it yourself. Load up Firefox with the best tracking prevention tools you can find. Go to https://panopticlick.eff.org/ https://panopticlick.eff.org/. See how many bits of entropy you have. Do the same in Safari.
  - ajscanlan 7y ago
    I did some testing. Android - Firefox - Ghostery + uBlock: "Strong protection against Web tracking" 17.59 bits of identifying information iOS - Safari - Stock: "Some protection against Web tracking" 17.59 bits of identifying information iOS - Safari - AdBlockPlus: "Some protection against Web tracking" 17.59 bits of identifying information (Exact same as Stock? Blocks ads though) Mac - Safari - Stock: "Some protection against Web tracking" 16.59 bits of identifying information. Mac - Chrome - Ghostery + uBlock: "Strong protection against Web tracking" Doesn't seem to finish the fingerprinting stage. Mac - Chrome - Stock: "No. You are not protected against tracking on the Web" 16.01 bits of identifying information.
    - bad_user 7y ago
      You could use uMatrix instead of uBlock. Blocking JavaScript is the most potent form of fingerprinting resistance. It's not comfortable to whitelist websites or pieces of functionality from websites, but at least you have the option. If on desktop Chrome, enjoy it while you still can, because Google just deprecated the underlying APIs ;-)
    - xvector 7y ago
      That is strange. I had about 13 bits of information, so did my coworkers.
  - bad_user 7y ago
    Not sure what I'm supposed to see, however this is my Firefox: https://www.dropbox.com/s/iiahhn1hb05nm5w/Screenshot%202019-08-19%2012.41.17.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/iiahhn1hb05nm5w/Screenshot%202019-... And this is my Safari (with the most popular content blocker active): https://www.dropbox.com/s/4n4hxbnumcyqegu/Screenshot%202019-08-19%2012.41.34.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/4n4hxbnumcyqegu/Screenshot%202019-... So my Firefox has less bits of entropy than my Safari, although I do admit that my Firefox has a custom configuration (it isn't out of the box), but so does my Safari. Also Firefox might have plenty to work on in regards to resisting fingerprinting techniques, however there are ongoing projects for that, for importing techniques already used in the Tor Browser: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Fingerprinting https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Fingerprinting And Firefox does protect against entities known to practice fingerprinting, which you can't say about Safari: https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2019/04/09/protections-against-fingerprinting-and-cryptocurrency-mining-available-in-firefox-nightly-and-beta/ https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2019/04/09/protectio...
    - xvector 7y ago
      I got 13 bits from Safari. Safari 12 introduced advanced fingerprinting resistance, I think they’re pretty far ahead of Firefox here.
bad_user 7y ago
The discussion is indeed relevant to developers and developers can distribute apps outside of Play. How is that not relevant? Also, having worked on an actual anti-ad-blocking platform I can tell you that Safari's content blockers are shit. They are the easiest to detect and circumvent and the reason for why many publishers still don't is because (1) they don't know it's possible, or (2) they are afraid of pissing visitors off, especially given growing GDPR concerns. The most potent ad-blocker on the market is uBlock Origin. And Firefox on Android supports it, the only mobile browser that does. Soon to be the only desktop browser too, but that's another discussion.

lol768 7y ago

>Ad-blocking is easy and well-supported in Safari. Safari’s tracking prevention extends far beyond anything Firefox has even with the best extensions. Do you have any links so I can read further on this? I'd like to compare it to both Firefox's built-in tracking protection (and fingerprinting resistance) and the functionality provided by e.g. uBlock Origin.

xvector 7y ago
Not any links on hand, but try it yourself. Load up Firefox with the best tracking prevention tools you can find. Go to https://panopticlick.eff.org/ https://panopticlick.eff.org/. See how many bits of entropy you have. Do the same in Safari.
- ajscanlan 7y ago
  I did some testing. Android - Firefox - Ghostery + uBlock: "Strong protection against Web tracking" 17.59 bits of identifying information iOS - Safari - Stock: "Some protection against Web tracking" 17.59 bits of identifying information iOS - Safari - AdBlockPlus: "Some protection against Web tracking" 17.59 bits of identifying information (Exact same as Stock? Blocks ads though) Mac - Safari - Stock: "Some protection against Web tracking" 16.59 bits of identifying information. Mac - Chrome - Ghostery + uBlock: "Strong protection against Web tracking" Doesn't seem to finish the fingerprinting stage. Mac - Chrome - Stock: "No. You are not protected against tracking on the Web" 16.01 bits of identifying information.
  - bad_user 7y ago
    You could use uMatrix instead of uBlock. Blocking JavaScript is the most potent form of fingerprinting resistance. It's not comfortable to whitelist websites or pieces of functionality from websites, but at least you have the option. If on desktop Chrome, enjoy it while you still can, because Google just deprecated the underlying APIs ;-)
  - xvector 7y ago
    That is strange. I had about 13 bits of information, so did my coworkers.
- bad_user 7y ago
  Not sure what I'm supposed to see, however this is my Firefox: https://www.dropbox.com/s/iiahhn1hb05nm5w/Screenshot%202019-08-19%2012.41.17.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/iiahhn1hb05nm5w/Screenshot%202019-... And this is my Safari (with the most popular content blocker active): https://www.dropbox.com/s/4n4hxbnumcyqegu/Screenshot%202019-08-19%2012.41.34.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/4n4hxbnumcyqegu/Screenshot%202019-... So my Firefox has less bits of entropy than my Safari, although I do admit that my Firefox has a custom configuration (it isn't out of the box), but so does my Safari. Also Firefox might have plenty to work on in regards to resisting fingerprinting techniques, however there are ongoing projects for that, for importing techniques already used in the Tor Browser: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Fingerprinting https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Fingerprinting And Firefox does protect against entities known to practice fingerprinting, which you can't say about Safari: https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2019/04/09/protections-against-fingerprinting-and-cryptocurrency-mining-available-in-firefox-nightly-and-beta/ https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2019/04/09/protectio...
  - xvector 7y ago
    I got 13 bits from Safari. Safari 12 introduced advanced fingerprinting resistance, I think they’re pretty far ahead of Firefox here.

bad_user 7y ago

The discussion is indeed relevant to developers and developers can distribute apps outside of Play. How is that not relevant? Also, having worked on an actual anti-ad-blocking platform I can tell you that Safari's content blockers are shit. They are the easiest to detect and circumvent and the reason for why many publishers still don't is because (1) they don't know it's possible, or (2) they are afraid of pissing visitors off, especially given growing GDPR concerns. The most potent ad-blocker on the market is uBlock Origin. And Firefox on Android supports it, the only mobile browser that does. Soon to be the only desktop browser too, but that's another discussion.