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The amount of time I lose trying to fight against advertisers is worrying. I've set up several firefox containers for websites. I'm now using two firefox prof

by jokoon 7y ago

The amount of time I lose trying to fight against advertisers is worrying. I've set up several firefox containers for websites. I'm now using two firefox profiles. My main profile has javascript disabled by default through ublock, except for some websites. My second profile has javascript enabled by default, but I enabled a custom tougher blocklist with ublock (can't remember which). I use this second firefox profile for websites I don't really trust. Even with all this, with the websites I'm using, I'm quite certain it's not enough. Before the virus, I was at my mother's, and I admit that watching TV again (in europe) was not that bad. I'm starting to think that getting the news from the internet is now equally bad than watching TV. About firefox containers: why can't firefox automatically compartmentalize cookies and such, by default? I've never understood why website A can read the cookies from website B. Ideally, there should be a setting to prevent such thing, even if it breaks some websites.

jraph 7y ago
The problem for shared cookies is likely third party cookies, which are going away [1]. [1] https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2019/09/03/todays-firefox-blocks-third-party-tracking-cookies-and-cryptomining-by-default/ https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2019/09/03/todays-firefox-bloc...
ant6n 7y ago
There should be profiles, the default one should have every website in its own container. Then there should be a google profile, which shares the google cookies so they can be used. Etc. Ideally, when following a link, the container should change as well.
- killallcookies 7y ago
  It's called Temporary Containers. Download it now.
correct_horse 7y ago
> why can't firefox automatically compartmentalize cookies and such, by default? It breaks some websites according to Mozilla, so Firefox does not block them by default. Firefox's term for this is third-party cookies, and you can change your Firefox settings to block them (without using containers) - see https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/disable-third-party-cookies https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/disable-third-party-coo... edit: the default settings block "cross-site tracking cookies" which is presumably different from "3rd party cookies", but I'm not exactly sure how.
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  > but I'm not exactly sure how. I'm guessing they have a blacklist, probably a community one maintained by some ad blocking project. That strikes me as the only feasible way of telling apart good and bad uses of the same technology, but it unfortunately requires unending gruntwork.
killallcookies 7y ago
First, why are you keeping cookies in the first place? Install Forget Me Not and deny/whitelist/clean up cookies automatically. I deny all cookies, except the ones I need to login to a few sites. Another way to go about it, is to just automatically delete all cookies when you close a page. Secondly, why aren't you using Temporart Containers? Each domain gets it's own temporary container and there is no cross contamination. Close the page and it's all gone.
david_draco 7y ago
Nice extension that creates a temporary container for each new tab: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/temporary-containers/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/temporary-con... It also still works with persistent containers (like for work, banking, etc.). Some one here pointed out this extension on HN.
the_pwner224 7y ago
> https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/firefox-fpi.html https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/firefox-fpi.html First Party Isolation is part of their quest to re-import privacy features from the Tor browser. It basically completely isolates every domain. You can look up the about:config values to enable it (they're at the bottom of the article too). IIRC I had it enabled for about a year with no breakage, but about a month ago it suddenly broke my university's login system. But I just turned it back on and that login is working OK again. Also probably would be good to enable browser.cache.cache_isolation.
fulafel 7y ago
Firefox is funded by ads since they get their income by renting out the search engine slots, right?
sergeykish 7y ago
I see it as a natural transition: Ad Blocker > Disable Javascript > Disable Cookies It is simple with uMatrix and it just works. Click on * for global scopes, unselect 1st-party. Rules should be * * * block * * css allow * * frame block * * image allow * 1st-party frame allow Still can be tracked by third-party images and css with fingerprinting and IP address... Of course it does not matter once javascript allowed - youtube tracked me fine without cookies. Private browsing and uBlocks could help only so much. About firefox containers - why where is no version for those who do not care about broken sites? It is certainly possible - code is there https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/ https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/ - would you use it? Would you build it?
tzs 7y ago
> Before the virus, I was at my mother's, and I admit that watching TV again (in europe) was not that bad. I'm starting to think that getting the news from the internet is now equally bad than watching TV. I think TV ads are inherently less annoying than most web ads because, perhaps counterintuitively, they stop you from watching your show while the ad plays. If I'm watching a TV show on say Hulu and an ad comes on the show is completely replaced by the ad and a little countdown timer appears in the upper left corner telling me how long until the show resumes. I glance at the timer and then find something else to do for that amount of time. I might pick up my iPad and work on a New York Times crossword puzzle until the ad finishes, or if the weather is good dash outside to toss some peanuts to the squirrels. As long as the ad break came at some natural scene transition in the show this is not very distracting. On a web site the ad is there with the site content. If it's animated or has audio it distracts while you try to read the content. Often it keeps on doing this for the entire time you are reading the content. If an ad is visible while you are reading content, I think it really needs to be completely static, or at least static until you actually click it or at least hover over it.
chacha2 7y ago
about:config - privacy.firstparty.isolate = true

by jokoon 7y ago

jraph 7y ago

The problem for shared cookies is likely third party cookies, which are going away [1]. [1] https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2019/09/03/todays-firefox-blocks-third-party-tracking-cookies-and-cryptomining-by-default/ https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2019/09/03/todays-firefox-bloc...

ant6n 7y ago

There should be profiles, the default one should have every website in its own container. Then there should be a google profile, which shares the google cookies so they can be used. Etc. Ideally, when following a link, the container should change as well.

killallcookies 7y ago
It's called Temporary Containers. Download it now.

correct_horse 7y ago

> why can't firefox automatically compartmentalize cookies and such, by default? It breaks some websites according to Mozilla, so Firefox does not block them by default. Firefox's term for this is third-party cookies, and you can change your Firefox settings to block them (without using containers) - see https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/disable-third-party-cookies https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/disable-third-party-coo... edit: the default settings block "cross-site tracking cookies" which is presumably different from "3rd party cookies", but I'm not exactly sure how.

TeMPOraL 7y ago
> but I'm not exactly sure how. I'm guessing they have a blacklist, probably a community one maintained by some ad blocking project. That strikes me as the only feasible way of telling apart good and bad uses of the same technology, but it unfortunately requires unending gruntwork.

killallcookies 7y ago

First, why are you keeping cookies in the first place? Install Forget Me Not and deny/whitelist/clean up cookies automatically. I deny all cookies, except the ones I need to login to a few sites. Another way to go about it, is to just automatically delete all cookies when you close a page. Secondly, why aren't you using Temporart Containers? Each domain gets it's own temporary container and there is no cross contamination. Close the page and it's all gone.

david_draco 7y ago

Nice extension that creates a temporary container for each new tab: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/temporary-containers/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/temporary-con... It also still works with persistent containers (like for work, banking, etc.). Some one here pointed out this extension on HN.

the_pwner224 7y ago

> https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/firefox-fpi.html https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/firefox-fpi.html First Party Isolation is part of their quest to re-import privacy features from the Tor browser. It basically completely isolates every domain. You can look up the about:config values to enable it (they're at the bottom of the article too). IIRC I had it enabled for about a year with no breakage, but about a month ago it suddenly broke my university's login system. But I just turned it back on and that login is working OK again. Also probably would be good to enable browser.cache.cache_isolation.

fulafel 7y ago

Firefox is funded by ads since they get their income by renting out the search engine slots, right?

sergeykish 7y ago

I see it as a natural transition: Ad Blocker > Disable Javascript > Disable Cookies It is simple with uMatrix and it just works. Click on * for global scopes, unselect 1st-party. Rules should be * * * block * * css allow * * frame block * * image allow * 1st-party frame allow Still can be tracked by third-party images and css with fingerprinting and IP address... Of course it does not matter once javascript allowed - youtube tracked me fine without cookies. Private browsing and uBlocks could help only so much. About firefox containers - why where is no version for those who do not care about broken sites? It is certainly possible - code is there https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/ https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/ - would you use it? Would you build it?

tzs 7y ago

> Before the virus, I was at my mother's, and I admit that watching TV again (in europe) was not that bad. I'm starting to think that getting the news from the internet is now equally bad than watching TV. I think TV ads are inherently less annoying than most web ads because, perhaps counterintuitively, they stop you from watching your show while the ad plays. If I'm watching a TV show on say Hulu and an ad comes on the show is completely replaced by the ad and a little countdown timer appears in the upper left corner telling me how long until the show resumes. I glance at the timer and then find something else to do for that amount of time. I might pick up my iPad and work on a New York Times crossword puzzle until the ad finishes, or if the weather is good dash outside to toss some peanuts to the squirrels. As long as the ad break came at some natural scene transition in the show this is not very distracting. On a web site the ad is there with the site content. If it's animated or has audio it distracts while you try to read the content. Often it keeps on doing this for the entire time you are reading the content. If an ad is visible while you are reading content, I think it really needs to be completely static, or at least static until you actually click it or at least hover over it.

chacha2 7y ago

about:config - privacy.firstparty.isolate = true