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Comment by nhance | Hacker News Reader

What 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.

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I 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...

[1]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/cookie-autode...

[2]: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-prote...

Additional 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.)

Are these options in firefox or addons? Would you mind explaining what they do and why they're useful?

I've found EasyList + "uBlock filters – Unbreak" to be sufficient in eliminating anti-adblock warnings.

I 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.

What about setting privacy.firstparty.isolate? I've had it on for years and almost nothing breaks.

'almost'? Do you have examples of websites breaking? Does it mean for example that you wouldn't be able to log onto YouTube because Google cookies are blocked?

Microsoft Teams — https://teams.microsoft.com/

It's also possible to configure Firefox to natively clear cookies on exit, minus an exception list if preferable.

- Firefox > Preferences > Privacy & Security > Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed

- Firefox > Preferences > Privacy & Security > Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed > Manage Exceptions

Definately worth considering yes. I rarely close Firefox so deleting cookies when I close a tab works better in my case.

What is the best way to use DDG like Google with minimum friction and good search results (I rarely get relevant answers if I do a pure DDG search)?

Also, what is DDG? It has its own crawlers (DuckDuckBot) like Google and Bing have (assuming Bing has, haven't read on it)? Or DDG (or DuckDuckBot) just filters/parses results from Google et al?

I 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.

Adblock 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)

NoScript is inconvenient, but essential. All of the other extensions are airbags whereas NoScript is the seatbelt.

I 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.

One 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.

I keep a separate browser profile just for purchases; once I've decided to buy something, I open that profile and copy the URL over. That way, my "browsing" profile remains locked down, and purchases stay easy.

It's annoying, but then it lets me know "don't shop there anymore" if it's that bad.

jomashop for instance...

adblock and ublock are absolutely not interchangeable.

Here is the source code for ublock: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock which is GNU GPL v3.0

Adblock is run by Wladimir Palant's Eyeo GmbH. It used to be an open source project but was rewritten to what it is now and is tied to "acceptable advertising" policies and is run by a for-profit company. As always, if you aren't paying for it, you should be asking who is.

Who's paying for uBlock?

uBlock Origin is Free. Open source. For users by users. No donations sought.
Without the preset lists of filters, this extension is nothing. So if ever you really do want to contribute something, think about the people working hard to maintain the filter lists you are using, which were made available to use by all for free.

You can contribute by helping translate uBlock Origin on Crowdin: https://crowdin.net/project/ublock

from https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock#about

You can't separate the "if you're not paying" line from the "for-profit company" and apply it to the free/open source project.

Well someone is still paying for opensource.. the maintainers and developers. The contributors. They're mostly paying with time, but there's some direct cost too.

It's why we want to be good users of open source and contribute back, whether that's donating or helping write documentation, manage issues, etc.

The cost of open source is the direct cost - what it takes to build an adblocker in this case. The cost of a for-profit product is the direct cost and the profit margin - a higher number in every situation. Instead of the for profit company paying that, it's some external party and if that isn't you it's.. well, still somebody. As the saying goes, if you aren't the customer, you're the product.

Best 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

Pihole 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.

Someone 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.

Umatrix is deprecated now. I currently use NoScript and it sort of fills the same role.

I 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

> 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

e.g. Got caught manipulating other extensions to whitelist his own site

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NoScript#Controversies

Thanks, I appreciate it.

Every custom extension and configuration you change makes your browser unique in its own way. See 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.

> See https://amiunique.org/

See also: https://panopticlick.eff.org

Both are garbage and both underestimate and overestimate entropy at the same time, due to sampling from a biased set of users.

These 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).

You should probably contact the EFF, so that could improve it.

I am a lifelong EFF fan and supporter, but... well, if everyone (ad / tracker people) is using this code and set of techniques I'm better off not pointing out how wrong it is. :)

It's almost like how Airwolf used to toss out chaff left and right to escape the bad guys, I have Earnest Borgnine in the back going "Why can't we hover like regular helicopter people?" as Firefox tosses out fake font results to Javascript sniffers.

Cookie autodelete is also worthwhile to prevent cookies from lingering unnecessarily.

The Resist fingerprinting and Third party isolation settings is also worth a try, it doesn't stop everything but it does prevent some of it. For usability I usually install the corresponding add-ons so I can toggle them with a button (these settings tends to break stuff).

LocalCDN may also help a bit by using local copies of commonly used resources.

I used to have an add-on that could spoof the font detection by making small random changes to font sizes, but it stopped working and I haven't found a replacement.

Font detection is stopped by fingerprinting resistance. But not font enumeration. (Which fonts you have, not how they look.)

Then there is CSS exfiltration and rectangle readout...

I 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

But 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?

Maybe fingerprinting is not what they're trying to secure themselves from.

I'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.

The 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.

Which is why you should use Resist Fingerprinting option instead, as it makes you look identical to other RFP users.

Privacy 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.

PrivacyTools 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

[2] https://privacytools.io/browsers/#about_config

Is 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.

Firefox now has HTTPS requirement as an option in settings.

It 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.

I 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.

Decentraleyes is not actively developed, use LocalCDN which is a maintained fork of it.

Really? 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

Is there an official announcement somewhere? The website doesn't indicate anything.

I 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.

I 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 (mentioned multiple times in these threads)

Discussion about the two: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14335190

It is indeed ublock origin. Should have specified

I'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

It'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

uBlock Origin should always be your first line of defense. Always.

I 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.

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