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Privacy Badger Is Changing to Protect You Better
- nhance 6y agoWhat is the recommended cocktail of extensions to use these days for optimal privacy? I have so much to think about that I haven't had a chance to dig in and learn what's best.
- Havoc 6y agoBest is relative. Privacy badger and ublock origin seems to break almost nothing. Adding umatrix blocks additional stuff but breaks sites. And worth running a pihole too. It seems to catch a lot even with adblockers enabled
- pletnes 6y agoPihole is great for stopping stuff that’s not in the browser in particular. OS telemetry, in-app ads, phishing sites, etc. In pronciple I suppose it can block cryptoviruses, but it’s probably hard to keep a good blocklist up to date.
- macd 6y agoSomeone correct me if I'm wrong, but ublock breaks almost nothing because it just allows trackers on pages where blocking it would break something. So if blocking a doubleclick tracker will stop a video from playing on some page/site, an exception will get added to the block list to just allow it on that page/site. It makes it 'just work', but imo it's not clear enough in the UI that this is happening and I would guess that most users don't even know.
- Shared404 6y agoUmatrix is deprecated now. I currently use NoScript and it sort of fills the same role.
- Havoc 6y agoI used noscript before umatrix. Umatrix is def technically superior in my eyes. Also noscript has some pretty shady sht in its history. Exactly what I don’t need from a privacy extension
- Shared404 6y ago> Umatrix is def technically superior in my eyes. Don't disagree there. > Also noscript has some pretty shady sht in its history. I haven't heard anything about that. Could I get some more info? I use NoScript pretty much everywhere and would like to know if I need to stop. Edit: Punctuation
- pjhol 6y agoI don't know whether this is the best set of extensions, but I'm personally using a mix of - uBlock Origin - Facebook Container - Decentraleyes, ClearURLs - HTTPS Everywhere - Privacy Badger. - Redirect AMP to HTML - Terms of Service; Didn’t Read - Smart Referer - User-Agent Switcher Next to that I'm using Bitwarden and Floccus (Nextcloud Bookmarks) for self-hosted decentralised password and bookmarks sync.
- MeinBlutIstBlau 6y agoI use adblock plus (imo interchangeable with ublock origin), noScript, facebook container, and HTTPS everywhere. No script is a pain to begin with, but you come to find out that google and facebook are everywhere constantly watching. It's incredibly unsettling.
- ffpip 6y agoAdblock Plus itself has trackers in it. They also accept money to whitelist every major ad company and trackers meaning you gain nothing privacy wise and just waste CPU resources. uBlock Origin is many times better (and faster)
- decasteve 6y agoNoScript is inconvenient, but essential. All of the other extensions are airbags whereas NoScript is the seatbelt.
- stanski 6y agoI went through the pain period of noscript but still couldn't stick with it. I had to be constantly mindful every time I buy something online. The process would half-fail at some stage and then I have to start hunting for which domain is the one that's essential for the checkout to complete. This is not NoScript's fault of course. Some websites are including 20-30 different domains (check out maperformance.com for example) and picking and choosing to get something to work is a nightmare.
- MeinBlutIstBlau 6y agoIt's annoying, but then it lets me know "don't shop there anymore" if it's that bad. jomashop for instance...
- timbit42 6y agoOne option is the disable NoScript in Private Windows and use private windows for online purchasing. Another option is to use another web browser for online purchasing.
- 6y ago
- qqii 6y agoEvery custom extension and configuration you change makes your browser unique in its own way. See https://amiunique.org/ https://amiunique.org/ At the most extreme using Tor Browser and its defaults maximises privacy for any general loginless browsing. If you're logging into services with accounts then a mix Firefox containers, uBlockOrigin, ClearUrls and Smart Referer provides pretty decent privacy.
- fsflover 6y ago> See https://amiunique.org/ https://amiunique.org/ See also: https://panopticlick.eff.org https://panopticlick.eff.org
- AstralStorm 6y agoBoth are garbage and both underestimate and overestimate entropy at the same time, due to sampling from a biased set of users.
- gravitas 6y agoThese tests are sketchy - I have been awarded 17.85 bits on this browser however 13.94 bits come from one line item: > System Fonts Arial, Bitstream Vera Sans Mono, Bookman Old Style, Century Schoolbook, Courier, Courier New, Helvetica, Monaco, Palatino, Palatino Linotype, Times, Times New Roman (via javascript) But as a Linux user, those are all mapped by Freetype (some to the same typeface) as many of those are copyright (? encumbered, not freely licensed) fonts: $ for zzz in Arial "Bitstream Vera Sans Mono" "Bookman Old Style" "Century Schoolbook" Courier "Courier New" Helvetica Monaco "Palatino Palatino" Linotype Times "Times New Roman"; do fc-match "$zzz"; done; LiberationSans-Regular.ttf: "Liberation Sans" "Regular" .. 12 more lines of font replacement maps... This website javascript test is measuring a heuristic, giving it a very high score (almost twice as high as anything else, "Hash of canvas fingerprint" is next) but that measurement is patently false compared to the real data. (it also reports no Ad Blocker used and I have uBlock-O fully enabled).
- fsflover 6y ago
- heresie-dabord 6y agoI would like Privacy Badger to keep aggregating information from users who volunteer to do so. I use the following extensions for browsing "security" (ha!): Disable WebRTC Canvas Blocker Firefox Multi-Account Containers LocalCDN Privacy Badger uBlock Origin
- maple3142 6y agoBut disabling WebRTC and Canvas makes you easier to be fingerprinted? Most people doesn't block that, so those feature not being available on a modern browser makes you "special" right?
- nvr219 6y agoMaybe fingerprinting is not what they're trying to secure themselves from.
- jszymborski 6y agoI'm not sure which add-on OP uses, but many canvas privacy add-ons simply add noise to the canvas calls. Disabling WebRTC isn't as much as an identifier, I imagine.
- heresie-dabord 6y agoThe browser is a complete traitor in this commercial surveillance system. It doesn't seem possible with any of the mainstream browsers to avoid a "unique" fingerprint. RSS is a good counter-tactic. In the end, if I have to apply defensive tactics just to read information, I will stop visiting. When I enter a store, I am unique. But I don't let the store cover me with tracers.
- AstralStorm 6y agoWhich is why you should use Resist Fingerprinting option instead, as it makes you look identical to other RFP users.
- ffpip 6y agouBlock Origin should always be your first line of defense. Always.
- Theodores 6y agoPrivacy Badger and Catblock might not be the best combo but it is furry mammal themed. I haven't had the urge to upgrade from it. However, sometimes I feel guilty for partaking in content that I have ad blocked as the creators lose out. Then I think about how it is that adverts might zonk out my brain, thereby rendering me unable to write helpful pleasant comments that are hopefully well received by the content creators. So being an advert blocking person isn't all that bad if you contribute with engaged comments.
- whycombagator 6y agoI have: Privacy badger Ublock Cookie autodelete HTTPS everywhere Decentraleyes DuckDuckGo (extension) (it auto sets DDG as the browser search engine, but you can disable that) Multi account containers - 1 for every frequently visited site. There’s an extension called temporary containers that’s interesting too I don’t but should use noscript Canvas blocker would freeze my browser so I don’t use it. NextDNS is installed on every device and the router. For mobile (ios) I use safari with Firefox focus set as the content blocker.
- AstralStorm 6y agoDecentraleyes is not actively developed, use LocalCDN which is a maintained fork of it.
- CarelessExpert 6y agoReally? They just bumped the version 6 months ago, and the repo shows changes in the last couple of weeks: https://git.synz.io/Synzvato/decentraleyes https://git.synz.io/Synzvato/decentraleyes Is there an official announcement somewhere? The website doesn't indicate anything.
- whycombagator 6y agoI don’t think that is true. See the other sibling comment. Also LocalCDN, whilst it has some nice extras, isn’t a recommended extension - decentraleyes is.
- crossroadsguy 6y agoI hope it's uBlock "Origin" and not just "uBlock". "uBlock Origin" is the original and real deal. The other one is a scam. https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock (mentioned multiple times in these threads) Discussion about the two: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14335190 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14335190
- whycombagator 6y ago
- cameronperot 6y agoPrivacyTools usually has an up to date list [1] of good extensions to use. It might also be worth going through their about:config tweaks section [2]. [1] https://privacytools.io/browsers/#addons https://privacytools.io/browsers/#addons [2] https://privacytools.io/browsers/#about_config https://privacytools.io/browsers/#about_config
- maltalex 6y agoIs HTTPS Everywhere actually useful at this point? The sites I visit use https by default. Last time I saw plain old http was quite a while ago.
- adamhearn 6y agoFirefox now has HTTPS requirement as an option in settings.
- livre 6y agoIt makes sure that when you type www.somewebsite.com and press enter you go directly to https instead of going through a http-https redirection that could be intercepted. This is only useful for websites that support https but are not in the HSTS preload list. Alternatively you can enable that Firefox setting someone mentioned but once you do that you stop being able to visit websites that don't support https so HTTPS Everywhere is a good middle ground.
- maltalex 6y agoI try to keep the number of browser extensions to a minimum since they have access to every piece of sensitive information in the browser. So my setup is: - uBlock Origin [0] - Cookie AutoDelete [1] - Firefox's "Enhanced Tracking Protection" set to "Strict" [2] - DuckDuckGo as the default search provider [0]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/ublock-origin... [1]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/cookie-autodelete/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/cookie-autode... [2]: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-protection-firefox-desktop https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-prote...
- AstralStorm 6y agoAdditional useful pieces are Skip Redirects and Smart Referer. And enabling First Party protection in about:config, plus perhaps Facebook Container. Against anti-adblock, Nano Defender is the thing. (There's an uBlock Origin mode in that.)
- ghostpepper 6y agoAre these options in firefox or addons? Would you mind explaining what they do and why they're useful?
- mkskm 6y agoI've found EasyList + "uBlock filters – Unbreak" to be sufficient in eliminating anti-adblock warnings.
- maltalex 6y agoI like the idea of Skip Redirects and Smart Referer, but I feel they aren't worth the risk. They're not popular extensions (11K and 6K users respectively) and aren't being reviewed by Mozilla. I'm certainly not going to review them myself, and I see no reason to trust their developers and their personal security practices.
- ubercow13 6y agoWhat about setting privacy.firstparty.isolate? I've had it on for years and almost nothing breaks.
- npteljes 6y agoI'm reliving my teenage rebellion with the following set of extensions (on Firefox): - uBlock Origin, most lists enabled, 3rd party iframes blocked - Privacy Settings - Multi-Account Containers, Temporary Containers - Decentraleyes
- markosaric 6y agoIt's crazy what we need to do these days just to surf the web! I do this: VPN on at all times Firefox as the main browser Firefox enhanced tracking protection set to Strict Firefox containers enabled to isolate specific sites when I do want to log into them (Google...) Everything set to be deleted (cookies, cache etc) when I close Firefox Allowed cookies for a handful of sites I want to keep being logged into DuckDuckGo as the main search uBlock Origin on with default blocklists. I really love the "element picker" feature which allows me to remove annoying elements
- aidenn0 6y agoDoes anyone have a good example of a site plastered with ads that still renders with privacy badger? I want a go-to screenshot to link to for my rants any time a website tells me to disable my "ad blocker"
- zwarag 6y agoThere are several digital newspapers that you can view with and without ad blocking. Here are some Austrian examples https://kurier.at/ https://kurier.at/ https://www.diepresse.com/ https://www.diepresse.com/
- MeinBlutIstBlau 6y agoDidn't I just read somewhere on slashdot or hacker news that privacy badger logs all of your websites you visit and websites that you enable/disable certain cookies or javascript?
- qqii 6y agoThis is quite unfortunate news but not surprising. This effectively turns Privacy Badger for the majority of users into another block list. Fingerprinting vs ad tracking protection has been an ongoing war. The natural escalation to tracking protection is to fingerprint even harder. I'd expect most power users who like to configure their extensions and blocking lists to be suprised how much information thst provides to differentiate them. Even without that browsers by default share a lot of information with every website (https://panopticlick.eff.org/ https://panopticlick.eff.org/). I don't see a good ending to this war. Solutions like Firefox containers requires you to be extremely thoughtful in your site usage and don't protect from more advanced fingerprinting techniques (that for example cloudflare employs). The web is fundimentally a little broken here.
- heresie-dabord 6y agoGiven the pervasive commercial surveillance system, a user needs to have several protective layers just to browse the WWW: a browser with security extensions (although a good browser should be built with security as a design principle, not as an "add-on") ESNI and DoH (even though Cloudflare can see the aggregate) DNS caching and blocking in the subnet iptables/nftables blocking of undesirable IP address ranges by the router edit: It's safer to leave the dysfunctional WWW alone and use only RSS.
- Pet_Ant 6y ago> It's safer to leave the dysfunctional WWW alone and use only RSS. Is their any evidence that Google killed Google Reader because it interfered with their Ad/user-tracking metrics business?
- tremon 6y agoDisagree on DoH though, because it defeats DNS caching and blocking in the subnet. Plus, many people trust their own provider more than yet another US corporation.
- tptacek 6y ago
- sdfin 6y agoCan DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials be an alternative to Privacy Badger? Once I replaced Privace Badger by it, because Privacy Badger had conflicts with some sites I read often. But I'm not sure if its's an optimal alternative.
- ffpip 6y agoDDG privacy essentials is domain based blocking. I recommend uBlock Origin. Remove everything else.
- solinent 6y agoWhy not both Privacy Badger and uBlock origin?
- worble 6y agoI don't know what Privacy Badger's blocklist looks like, but without the learning aspect, if it's inbuilt blocklist is already covered by uBlock then all you're doing is slowing down your browser without any benefit.
- solinent 6y agoRight, fair enough. I think having as many as possible makes sense and they're worth the loss of convenience.
- electriclove 6y agoThey get a lot of flack here but kudos to Google for informing Privacy Badger about this.
- ocdtrekkie 6y agoGoogle's original report on Safari's ITP was part of a major FUD campaign about privacy measures. Google went so far as to suggest because fingerprinting was possible, we should just allow third party cookies. Arguably, carrying this forward in limiting the effectiveness of Privacy Badger to block tracking domains is a further extension of that behavior. Google has finally been pushed to accept that third party cookies are going away, but are now advocating for a "privacy budget" system that essentially gives them a certain amount of allowance to violate your privacy. They are still FUD-ing about the drastically more correct solution: To just protect your privacy outright.
- sthnblllII 6y ago>because fingerprinting was possible, we should just allow third party cookies Nothing is either/or. Increasing the cost and difficulty of tracking does increase privacy. At the same time, there is some truth to the argument that Google is not losing the arms race between its trackers and the blockers anytime soon. Fundamentally, as long as web pages have this much control over your computer, they will be able to track you. The web is broken and needs to be paired down and reworked so that privacy is part of the protocol.
- dandare 6y agoQuestion: if I use uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger at the same time, who blocks what?
- uallo 6y agoIn Firefox, you can see that in the developer tool's Network panel.