submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
 

Open-source tests of web browser privacy.

[EDIT] - Check the comments for more information and links πŸ”½ πŸ”½ πŸ”½

[Edit Edit] - Brave Browser caught adding its own referral codes to some cryptocurrency trading sites - More in the comments πŸ”½ πŸ”½ πŸ”½

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[–] 106 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

https://aussie.zone/post/1903094

Looking into privacytests.org, the main developer behind it is someone who contributes to Brave source code. He may not be officially affiliated with the company, but it would be hard to ignore any sort of bias towards Brave.

@voytrekk@lemmy.world

(how do you tag someone here?)

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    [–] 82 points 2 years ago (8 children)

    Stop promoting brave, it’s a scam

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    [–] 21 points 2 years ago

    This was garbage every time it was posted before, and it's still garbage.

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  • [–] 19 points 2 years ago

    Some of these test cases don't matter if you just use uBlock Origin.

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  • [+] 18 points 2 years ago (1 child)
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    [+] 16 points 2 years ago (2 children)
  • [–] 21 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    I think they comparing browsers with default configuration. I'm sure Firefox with some addons and extra features enabled passes more tests.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Firefox with one or two extensions and a resonable configuration would be at or near the top of the list. This test only compares defaults which isn't so useful if you are someone that takes the time to setup your browser.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago* (3 children)

    @cupcakezealot @ekZepp

    I use FF on desktop with ublock, fb fence and various settings tweaked.

    On mobile I use FF with ublock and the blokada app (which blocks trackers in other apps too).

    In that setup I get great privacy results at the eff testing tool. Do you have other tools you like to test with?

    Really not sure what to do about the fingerprint, but otherwise feel pretty good.

    I think I tried brave at some point and it didn't do as well. DDG browser didn't do as well.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Firefox assigns a single fingerprint to multiple users. These tests are wildly inaccurate.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    @LoafyLemon @ekZepp @cupcakezealot

    How does Firefox assign a fingerprint? I thought a fingerprint was made of all my add-ons, browser version, OS, screen size, device version, etc?

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  • [–] 16 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    So at a quick glance Librewolf is the best choice for desktop? Does it allow addons or block ads natively?

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  • [–] 28 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

    It comes with uBlock Origin preinstalled, so there's that. Otherwise, it's just a hardened Firefox fork, and as such has the same catalogue of addons

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  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    Awesome. Makes me wonder if there's still a reason to use Firefox over Librewolf.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago

    Only reasons if heard is faster updates if you use base Firefox (w/ arkenfix user.js). Also the styling (brand icons and such) for librewolf are detectable. Mullvad is better than librewolf for antfingerprinting.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Yes it does both of those things, Librewolf is just Firefox pre-configured for privacy. You could use Librewolf or you could configure firefox yourself to be equally private, Librewolf is just taking advantage of the features built into FIrefox but left optional for users.

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  • [–] 16 points 2 years ago

    I don't understand the ones where a browser doesn't have the feature so it gets a green dash versus a green check. I'd assume not having a feature should just be considered failing. What's the distinction?

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago

    tor, mullvad, or librewolf i would say

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (1 child)
  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    Wish DuckDuckGo was on the list

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (3 children)

    Some of the items on that list are kinda weird. Why would I want to block a website from knowing my screen size?

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  • [–] 15 points 2 years ago

    Window sizes can vary widely and if you come from the same IP with the same exact window size (1033x832 for example) then people wanting to track you for ads etc will have a higher degree of confidence that you're the same person. It's part of "browser fingerprinting", which can also include things like the extensions you have installed: https://amiunique.org/

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago

    Tracking/advertising corporations have developed techniques called 'browser fingerprinting' where innocuous seeming things like screen size and the fonts you ahve installed on your system can be used to uniquely identify you and track you across the internet even without cookies or anything like that.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    Why are the three Chrome derivatives missing features Chrome has? Is it a porting issue or are they just that far behind on pulling in upstream changes?

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