6 ms·

I exclusively use private browsing, but I know that doesn't do much in preventing tracking, so it's nice to see this finally starting to roll out. The fact tha

I exclusively use private browsing, but I know that doesn't do much in preventing tracking, so it's nice to see this finally starting to roll out. The fact that I have to go to great lengths to browse anonymously - and companies desperately try to circumvent my genuine decision to opt out of their tracking - tells me everything I need to know about those companies. Words like sleezy, shady, and predatory come to mind. I would love to see this taken one step further and have states/countries prevent companies from tracking me altogether if I reject their cookies, but I fear it's more likely those companies will lobby to prevent Firefox from protecting us.

tgv 11mo ago
You could try to use profiles instead of private browsing. It keeps things separated.
- notafox 11mo ago
  Also profiles can be configured and used with CLI, no need for UI (old or new). ./firefox -CreateProfile "profile-name /home/user/.mozilla/firefox/profile-path/" ./firefox -profile "/home/user/.mozilla/firefox/profile-path/" And, you can run it directly, no need to launch default firefox profile: Given that /usr/bin/firefox is just a shell script, you can - create a copy of it, say, /usr/bin/firefox-hn - adjust the relevant line, adding the -profile argument If you use an icon to run firefox (say, /usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop), you'll need to do copy/adjust line for the icon.
  - unethical_ban 11mo ago
    Instead of needing to know scripting for a core feature, it would be nice if I could tell the program to ask me every time I open a new window which profile that window used. Right click would have an option like their containers "opening new profile window" .
    - skydhash 11mo ago
      Better if they would allow some configuration like toggling js by domain. uBlock is great, but I would like first party support.
      - HackerThemAll 11mo ago
        NoScript extension...
    - panarky 11mo ago
      Right-click on the Firefox icon and choose "Open Profile Manager". Or add "-p" to the startup command to do the same thing without right-clicking: firefox -p
  - chimeracoder 11mo ago
    > Also profiles can be configured and used with CLI, no need for UI (old or new). AFAIK, they can only be created at the command line, not configured. If you want to do things like change default settings or install extensions from the Firefox Add-On store, you can't really do that at the command line. You can do that by mucking around in the user.js file and manually adding .xpi files to the extensions/ subfolder, but that's probably stretching the definition of "done at the command-line" since most people aren't creating Puppet modules to manage Firefox profiles. Perhaps someone knows an easier way to do this, though.
floxy 11mo ago
Tor? Although I wish there was a way to make a reddit account.
- godelski 11mo ago
  You might want to check out the Mullvad browser. They work with Tor and are based on Firefox. It won't connect you to the Tor network but still
- DANmode 11mo ago
  Library
recursive4 11mo ago
Out of curiousity, how would you steelman the argument that fingerprinting is no different than a store owner, standing behind the counter, taking note of the faces of who enters his store, and maintaining a log?
- AstralStorm 11mo ago
  The store owner visibly responds to the customers differently. Fingerprinting is invisible. It's more like the store owner recording everyone on hidden camera. So no, you cannot steelman a broken analogy.
- sudobash1 11mo ago
  To make that analogy closer to the Internet reality, I would say that Internet tracking is more like a cabal of shop-keepers, librarians, neighbors, utility pole workers, and so on who are keeping track of all the faces, all their habits, what they look at, what they say, who they interact with, and share this information amongst themselves, recording it in perpetuity. They also share details with the police and anyone who cares to purchase them. When you talk about a "shopkeeper" it gives it a small community charm. The Internet is anything but that.
  - rolandog 11mo ago
    Exactly. The "shopkeeper" is cross-correlating my sleeping habits, my browsing data, 27 data-leaks, my credit score history, the proximity of other devices and WiFis, the pictures my in-laws posted of a get-together, sentiment analysis of voice messages... All while showing me 2 advertisements before I enter the store, trying to trick me into clicking a mysterious "track me more" button while I try to get toothpaste, and never lowering the price of pasta for me because my wife mentioned on a post that she loves eating Italian. And he's the town's least creepy shopkeeper.
- MichaelNolan 11mo ago
  The difference is scale and intent. A mom and pop store owner “remembering” my face versus big tech tracking is like comparing a nosy neighbor to the CIA. One of them might peer out their window, the other will infiltrate every aspect of your life. One of them is bored, the other has no qualms about doing significant harm to you if it serves their interests.
mihaaly 11mo ago
I am dreaming for righteous 'small' employees too, those who carry out the dishonourable practice of implementing privacy intrusion following instructions, for money. Corporates are built by thousands of ignorant grey workers.
tlavoie 11mo ago
The "Temporary Containers" extension is great here, allowing pretty easy compromise between different buckets of sites. I'll have some personal ones that I log into, others go specifically into a snoop container, and the rest get temporary ones that evaporate when closed. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-CA/firefox/addon/temporary-containers/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-CA/firefox/addon/temporary-con...
- modin 11mo ago
  stoically, the maintainer and creator of this extension unfortunately passed in early 2023. There's a new fork available[0], linked from github[1]. I briefly discussed this extension and how to proceed after the passing of a maintainer with Mozilla staff in their Extensions and People teams at FOSDEM this year, but there was no real procedures in place at the time of our chat. [0]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/temporary-containers-plus/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/temporary-con... [1]: https://github.com/stoically/temporary-containers/issues/634 https://github.com/stoically/temporary-containers/issues/634
  - tlavoie 11mo ago
    Oh, damn, good to know thanks! Sad news indeed.
  - baranul 11mo ago
    Yes, that's truly sad that he passed. It is fortunate that he left that open-source project, where others can pick up the torch. As the forks continue, it becomes a small tribute to him.
kalaksi 11mo ago
> I would love to see this taken one step further and have states/countries prevent companies from tracking me altogether if I reject their cookies You're in luck since EU's GDPR is about informing users of PII harvesting and consent in general (among other things). So the banner is not only about cookies. And I think nowadays there are similar regulations elsewhere.
- drnick1 11mo ago
  The last thing I want to see is more banners that don't actually do anything for your privacy. Let's be real, websites/companies will do whatever they want with your data, the banner is just for show.
  - kalaksi 11mo ago
    I was just pointing out to parent that it already happens...

tgv 11mo ago

You could try to use profiles instead of private browsing. It keeps things separated.

notafox 11mo ago
Also profiles can be configured and used with CLI, no need for UI (old or new). ./firefox -CreateProfile "profile-name /home/user/.mozilla/firefox/profile-path/" ./firefox -profile "/home/user/.mozilla/firefox/profile-path/" And, you can run it directly, no need to launch default firefox profile: Given that /usr/bin/firefox is just a shell script, you can - create a copy of it, say, /usr/bin/firefox-hn - adjust the relevant line, adding the -profile argument If you use an icon to run firefox (say, /usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop), you'll need to do copy/adjust line for the icon.
- unethical_ban 11mo ago
  Instead of needing to know scripting for a core feature, it would be nice if I could tell the program to ask me every time I open a new window which profile that window used. Right click would have an option like their containers "opening new profile window" .
  - skydhash 11mo ago
    Better if they would allow some configuration like toggling js by domain. uBlock is great, but I would like first party support.
    - HackerThemAll 11mo ago
      NoScript extension...
  - panarky 11mo ago
    Right-click on the Firefox icon and choose "Open Profile Manager". Or add "-p" to the startup command to do the same thing without right-clicking: firefox -p
- chimeracoder 11mo ago
  > Also profiles can be configured and used with CLI, no need for UI (old or new). AFAIK, they can only be created at the command line, not configured. If you want to do things like change default settings or install extensions from the Firefox Add-On store, you can't really do that at the command line. You can do that by mucking around in the user.js file and manually adding .xpi files to the extensions/ subfolder, but that's probably stretching the definition of "done at the command-line" since most people aren't creating Puppet modules to manage Firefox profiles. Perhaps someone knows an easier way to do this, though.

floxy 11mo ago

Tor? Although I wish there was a way to make a reddit account.

godelski 11mo ago
You might want to check out the Mullvad browser. They work with Tor and are based on Firefox. It won't connect you to the Tor network but still
DANmode 11mo ago
Library

recursive4 11mo ago

Out of curiousity, how would you steelman the argument that fingerprinting is no different than a store owner, standing behind the counter, taking note of the faces of who enters his store, and maintaining a log?

AstralStorm 11mo ago
The store owner visibly responds to the customers differently. Fingerprinting is invisible. It's more like the store owner recording everyone on hidden camera. So no, you cannot steelman a broken analogy.
sudobash1 11mo ago
To make that analogy closer to the Internet reality, I would say that Internet tracking is more like a cabal of shop-keepers, librarians, neighbors, utility pole workers, and so on who are keeping track of all the faces, all their habits, what they look at, what they say, who they interact with, and share this information amongst themselves, recording it in perpetuity. They also share details with the police and anyone who cares to purchase them. When you talk about a "shopkeeper" it gives it a small community charm. The Internet is anything but that.
- rolandog 11mo ago
  Exactly. The "shopkeeper" is cross-correlating my sleeping habits, my browsing data, 27 data-leaks, my credit score history, the proximity of other devices and WiFis, the pictures my in-laws posted of a get-together, sentiment analysis of voice messages... All while showing me 2 advertisements before I enter the store, trying to trick me into clicking a mysterious "track me more" button while I try to get toothpaste, and never lowering the price of pasta for me because my wife mentioned on a post that she loves eating Italian. And he's the town's least creepy shopkeeper.
MichaelNolan 11mo ago
The difference is scale and intent. A mom and pop store owner “remembering” my face versus big tech tracking is like comparing a nosy neighbor to the CIA. One of them might peer out their window, the other will infiltrate every aspect of your life. One of them is bored, the other has no qualms about doing significant harm to you if it serves their interests.

mihaaly 11mo ago

I am dreaming for righteous 'small' employees too, those who carry out the dishonourable practice of implementing privacy intrusion following instructions, for money. Corporates are built by thousands of ignorant grey workers.

tlavoie 11mo ago

The "Temporary Containers" extension is great here, allowing pretty easy compromise between different buckets of sites. I'll have some personal ones that I log into, others go specifically into a snoop container, and the rest get temporary ones that evaporate when closed. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-CA/firefox/addon/temporary-containers/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-CA/firefox/addon/temporary-con...

modin 11mo ago
stoically, the maintainer and creator of this extension unfortunately passed in early 2023. There's a new fork available[0], linked from github[1]. I briefly discussed this extension and how to proceed after the passing of a maintainer with Mozilla staff in their Extensions and People teams at FOSDEM this year, but there was no real procedures in place at the time of our chat. [0]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/temporary-containers-plus/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/temporary-con... [1]: https://github.com/stoically/temporary-containers/issues/634 https://github.com/stoically/temporary-containers/issues/634
- tlavoie 11mo ago
  Oh, damn, good to know thanks! Sad news indeed.
- baranul 11mo ago
  Yes, that's truly sad that he passed. It is fortunate that he left that open-source project, where others can pick up the torch. As the forks continue, it becomes a small tribute to him.

kalaksi 11mo ago

> I would love to see this taken one step further and have states/countries prevent companies from tracking me altogether if I reject their cookies You're in luck since EU's GDPR is about informing users of PII harvesting and consent in general (among other things). So the banner is not only about cookies. And I think nowadays there are similar regulations elsewhere.

drnick1 11mo ago
The last thing I want to see is more banners that don't actually do anything for your privacy. Let's be real, websites/companies will do whatever they want with your data, the banner is just for show.
- kalaksi 11mo ago
  I was just pointing out to parent that it already happens...