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> Consent-O-Matic (auto fill cookie consent forms) This will modify the browser fringerprint making you more unique. I would not install so many extensions as

by dngray 4y ago

> Consent-O-Matic (auto fill cookie consent forms) This will modify the browser fringerprint making you more unique. I would not install so many extensions as you're trusting a huge number of organizations/people with privileged access to your browser. Anything that modifies CSS, Document Object Model (DOM) will make your browser stand out. We wrote a blog post about this: https://blog.privacyguides.org/2021/12/01/firefox-privacy-2021-update/ https://blog.privacyguides.org/2021/12/01/firefox-privacy-20... That includes any extensions that modify what is requested etc. See: https://github.com/arkenfox/user.js/wiki/4.1-Extensions https://github.com/arkenfox/user.js/wiki/4.1-Extensions See https://www.privacyguides.org/desktop-browsers/#firefox https://www.privacyguides.org/desktop-browsers/#firefox, you really don't need to do anything more than that. > Facebook Container etc, not needed unless you login to multiple Facebook accounts. > Disconnect Not needed, you should enable Firefox's ETP Enhanced Tracking Protection, this includes anything on that list. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-protection-firefox-desktop#w_what-enhanced-tracking-protection-blocks https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-prote...

pmoriarty 4y ago
Trying to avoid tracking on the modern web is a losing battle for any but the most hyperparanoid, consistently careful, and technically astute individuals. For everyone else: you're going to leak identity information one way or another, and it's going to get correlated. The more plugged-in and connected you are, the harder it is to remain anonymous. If you really value your privacy, don't use the internet or any types of computers, including phones, and never go outside. It's a cat and mouse game, and the cats have won.
- Psype 4y ago
  I wish I'd have a plugin that makes the difference before/after accepting cookie consent, always accept, and always flush them between pages. I know by experience that the key isn't about refusing them, but letting them having those "user accepted" KPI values, even if it goes nowhere behind.
  - pmoriarty 4y ago
    I use uBlock Origin's element picker and element blocker features to just make the popup notices disappear, without accepting them. But that's mostly just a habit of mine that I know is pretty useless, as websites don't need cookies to track you, and I really don't know why they even bother anymore.
    - docmars 4y ago
      Try using the extension "I don't care about cookies" It's excellent. I have needed to disable it occasionally to make basic site functionality work on some sites that I absolutely need to use, though I'm forgetting which ones.
      - bacchusracine 4y ago
        ICYMI: That extension was bought up by Avast. https://www.androidpolice.com/i-dont-care-about-cookies-acquired-by-avast/ https://www.androidpolice.com/i-dont-care-about-cookies-acqu...
        docmars 4y ago
        Well poop!
      - pmoriarty 4y ago
        I've used Cookie AutoDelete. It was good. Is "I don't care about cookies better"? If so, how?
        docmars 4y ago
        I'm not sure if Cookie AutoDelete hides or auto-accepts cookie popups, but that was the main motivation for using "I don't care about cookies" -- I don't want to see all these ridiculous cookie notices on every site I visit.
        dngray 4y ago
- public_defender 4y ago
  This comment is true on the facts, but militates for what I consider to be a poor conclusion. I know a lot of people who talk this way, and it's usually those who are best positioned to defend themselves from surveillance. This is annoying to me because giving up on surveillance defense doesn't really make sense in the long term for individuals, and we need technical experts in the resistance. Try to remember that policy, law, and major social trends tend to have slower feedback loops than other machines. It's hard to know today where we will innovate that will ultimately make a contribution to societal progress, but I can tell you with pretty high certainty that giving up won't help change anything for the better. Like the lady said, "We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable--but then, so did the divine right of kings."
- trvz 4y ago
  Personally, if I had to assign the web tracking industry to either cats or mice, I'd chose the rodents.
- JohnFen 4y ago
  > If you really value your privacy, don't use the internet or any types of computers, including phones, and never go outside. Or, perhaps, take a bit of a more nuanced view of things. Perfect privacy, exactly like perfect security, is and always has been an unattainable ideal. But less than perfection is still very useful. Locking your front door won't stop someone with a battering ram, but you might want to do it anyway.
Larrikin 4y ago
I use Ad Nauseum instead of plain UBlock so that the data sent is just garbage. You would think something simple like clicking all the ads wouldn't work, but it works well enough that Google banned it from the Chrome store
- culopatin 4y ago
  Maybe they banned it because Google pays webmasters for clicks on ads and that extension makes them waste money
- archduck 4y ago
  I totally forgot about Ad Nauseam! I used to use it instead of uBlock Origin (which, if I remember correctly, is what Ad Nauseam actually uses for its adblocking). Google banning it from their extensions marketplace only strengthened my loathing for Google and my resolve to use it. I don’t remember why I eventually stopped - probably the inconvenience. Now that I’m a Firefox user, I should pick that back up and give it a spin again. It was entertaining to see the visualization of all the ads it had clicked on. I also used to use Chaff (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chaff/jgjhamliocfhehbocekgcddfjpgdjnje https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chaff/jgjhamliocfh...), which opens up a tab and browses on its own when the browser is idle and disappears when you start using it again. As with Ad Nauseam, the means of protecting privacy behind it is not anonymity, but rather obfuscation - muddifying your actual browsing behavior by flooding the data you leave behind with junk data (at which point it ceases to be data, I suppose). The problem with that extension was that I would sit back and wait for it to start browsing, and then I’d waste too much time watching it / customizing its behavior. The book _Obfuscation: A User's Guide for Privacy and Protest_, written by the authors who developed Ad Nauseam and TrackMeNot, has a great chapter on chaff (the obfuscation tactic, not the Chaff extension mentioned above).
  - dngray 4y ago
    > Ad Nauseam Don't do this, you're not making your browser any more private than just blocking using uBlock Origin. Any kind of "obfuscation" extensions that change browsing behavior significantly modify the fingerprint. There are a lot of uBO and other adblocking users but very few Ad Nauseam users or users of other weird extensions. I also wouldn't be surprised if there isn't a way to filter out those "clicks" anyway from the ad provider's side. They are risky and mostly written by people who think they sound cool without thinking of the side effects.

by dngray 4y ago

pmoriarty 4y ago

Trying to avoid tracking on the modern web is a losing battle for any but the most hyperparanoid, consistently careful, and technically astute individuals. For everyone else: you're going to leak identity information one way or another, and it's going to get correlated. The more plugged-in and connected you are, the harder it is to remain anonymous. If you really value your privacy, don't use the internet or any types of computers, including phones, and never go outside. It's a cat and mouse game, and the cats have won.

Psype 4y ago
I wish I'd have a plugin that makes the difference before/after accepting cookie consent, always accept, and always flush them between pages. I know by experience that the key isn't about refusing them, but letting them having those "user accepted" KPI values, even if it goes nowhere behind.
- pmoriarty 4y ago
  I use uBlock Origin's element picker and element blocker features to just make the popup notices disappear, without accepting them. But that's mostly just a habit of mine that I know is pretty useless, as websites don't need cookies to track you, and I really don't know why they even bother anymore.
  - docmars 4y ago
    Try using the extension "I don't care about cookies" It's excellent. I have needed to disable it occasionally to make basic site functionality work on some sites that I absolutely need to use, though I'm forgetting which ones.
    - bacchusracine 4y ago
      ICYMI: That extension was bought up by Avast. https://www.androidpolice.com/i-dont-care-about-cookies-acquired-by-avast/ https://www.androidpolice.com/i-dont-care-about-cookies-acqu...
      - docmars 4y ago
        Well poop!
    - pmoriarty 4y ago
      I've used Cookie AutoDelete. It was good. Is "I don't care about cookies better"? If so, how?
      - docmars 4y ago
        I'm not sure if Cookie AutoDelete hides or auto-accepts cookie popups, but that was the main motivation for using "I don't care about cookies" -- I don't want to see all these ridiculous cookie notices on every site I visit.
      - dngray 4y ago
public_defender 4y ago
This comment is true on the facts, but militates for what I consider to be a poor conclusion. I know a lot of people who talk this way, and it's usually those who are best positioned to defend themselves from surveillance. This is annoying to me because giving up on surveillance defense doesn't really make sense in the long term for individuals, and we need technical experts in the resistance. Try to remember that policy, law, and major social trends tend to have slower feedback loops than other machines. It's hard to know today where we will innovate that will ultimately make a contribution to societal progress, but I can tell you with pretty high certainty that giving up won't help change anything for the better. Like the lady said, "We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable--but then, so did the divine right of kings."
trvz 4y ago
Personally, if I had to assign the web tracking industry to either cats or mice, I'd chose the rodents.
JohnFen 4y ago
> If you really value your privacy, don't use the internet or any types of computers, including phones, and never go outside. Or, perhaps, take a bit of a more nuanced view of things. Perfect privacy, exactly like perfect security, is and always has been an unattainable ideal. But less than perfection is still very useful. Locking your front door won't stop someone with a battering ram, but you might want to do it anyway.

Larrikin 4y ago

I use Ad Nauseum instead of plain UBlock so that the data sent is just garbage. You would think something simple like clicking all the ads wouldn't work, but it works well enough that Google banned it from the Chrome store

culopatin 4y ago
Maybe they banned it because Google pays webmasters for clicks on ads and that extension makes them waste money
archduck 4y ago
I totally forgot about Ad Nauseam! I used to use it instead of uBlock Origin (which, if I remember correctly, is what Ad Nauseam actually uses for its adblocking). Google banning it from their extensions marketplace only strengthened my loathing for Google and my resolve to use it. I don’t remember why I eventually stopped - probably the inconvenience. Now that I’m a Firefox user, I should pick that back up and give it a spin again. It was entertaining to see the visualization of all the ads it had clicked on. I also used to use Chaff (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chaff/jgjhamliocfhehbocekgcddfjpgdjnje https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chaff/jgjhamliocfh...), which opens up a tab and browses on its own when the browser is idle and disappears when you start using it again. As with Ad Nauseam, the means of protecting privacy behind it is not anonymity, but rather obfuscation - muddifying your actual browsing behavior by flooding the data you leave behind with junk data (at which point it ceases to be data, I suppose). The problem with that extension was that I would sit back and wait for it to start browsing, and then I’d waste too much time watching it / customizing its behavior. The book _Obfuscation: A User's Guide for Privacy and Protest_, written by the authors who developed Ad Nauseam and TrackMeNot, has a great chapter on chaff (the obfuscation tactic, not the Chaff extension mentioned above).
- dngray 4y ago
  > Ad Nauseam Don't do this, you're not making your browser any more private than just blocking using uBlock Origin. Any kind of "obfuscation" extensions that change browsing behavior significantly modify the fingerprint. There are a lot of uBO and other adblocking users but very few Ad Nauseam users or users of other weird extensions. I also wouldn't be surprised if there isn't a way to filter out those "clicks" anyway from the ad provider's side. They are risky and mostly written by people who think they sound cool without thinking of the side effects.