privacy browsers

so i have read that google chrome has privacy issues. What other browsers have privacy issues or is it just google chrome?

 

I'm curious why you dismiss a product because someone has told you something as vague and uneducating as "privacy issues". Did they expand on that and explain to you exactly what the issues are? Or do you just take that as knowledge and make it fact for yourself?

Basically I'm just trying to say, when people recommend or don't recommend a product for you, you should ask them to teach you why, not just take something as vague as that and live by it.

 

Privacy concerns seem to have overtaken security concerns! I wonder what's going on?

http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000750.html
The New McCarthyism of Google-Baiting Spreads Its Stain

 

i didnt dismiss chrome im just wondering what other browsers have privacy issues. Ill admit i don't know much about it just that they assign a number to your browser and track you but by the searches i have done i seen alot of privacy issues from chrome and nothing else from other browsers?

 

So do you think that the concerns that many have about data collection and privacy invasions by Google are unfounded and untrue?

 

I believe what I wrote, nothing more, nothing less.

 

Comodo has made a Google Chrome version getting rid of all of the Google privacy issues, they call it Comodo Dragon Internet Browser:

What's the difference between Google Chrome and Comodo Dragon?
The Dragon encompasses all of the best features of Chrome. It includes an important feature every user needs to use the Internet in total safety today. – Strong security and privacy.

http://www.comodo.com/home/browsers-toolbars/browser.php

 

You obviously don't know how to setup Google Chrome, maybe you should start by asking that? I don't know what you mean by privacy but i can tell you my Google Chrome has a much lower fingerprint (measured in bits of identifying information) than this over-hyped by-product that gives by it's name Iron Browser in it's default config.

 

SRWare Iron is a derivative browser for Windows, Mac and Linux based on the Chromium browser that eliminates usage tracking and other privacy-compromising functionality that the Google Chrome browser includes.

It looks like the Comodo Dragon Internet Browser is for Windows 7/Vista/XP only.

-- Tom

 

Good Read Indeed

 

I recently tried SRWare's Iron for several days and am considering using it as my primary browser. Works fine with chrome extensions and is basically what Comodo has done -- Chrome without the privacy issues. I would use it over anything Comodo does, btw, on principle alone.

 

about SRWare Iron:
thoughtyblog.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/why-no-one-should-not-use-the-iron-chromium-fork/

Generally speaking don't use any Windows or Google products, Chromium is fine.
But all things considered these sort of "privacy issues" you talk about are minor compared to ordinary cookies, LTOs, your IP and online credentials.
Therefore if you are worried about privacy use whatever browser gives you the most comfortable way to control these. Any of the major one is reasonably capable.
Personally I think the most control you get when using Firefox with Request Policy.

 

Relying on "secure" browsers, cleaners and other protective software is unwise, IMHO. I've been down that path, for sure, as y'all can see from my posts here. And I was foolish.

My advice, FWIW: restrict everything private to a Linux VM (no serial number, unlike Windows) that connects via an anonymous VPN (plus Tor, if you like). It's not difficult, and can be done for free (e.g., VirtualBox with Ubuntu VMs). If you're testing malware, you'll need to do better than that, of course.

For example, you might be reading Wilders, and see an interesting, yet very risky, link. No problem. Create a snapshot, which takes a few seconds, and then click that link. When you're done, just kill the VM, delete the snapshot, and boot it. Voilà, you're right back, in just about every regard. The VPN connection is probably hosed, however, and will need to be re-established. That's why it's important to firewall the VPN, BTW.

 

As for not using Windows, let's not even go there. Another thread maybe? I hate the thought of a Linux/Windows war though. Ugh. So 1990's.

Anybody can write anything anywhere. I didn't find the blog post by "thoughty" convincing in any way regarding the Iron I have been hearing about.

 

Sorry replace "products" by "browsers" then to stay OT.
Though I have to add, OP had RLZs and similar in mind, only proprietary software has this sort of user tracking, it's not Windows vs Linux, it's open vs closed and that's as actual as it gets. (btw I didn't mention Linux at all)
Also note that I do not agree with the notion that this is especially worrisome as contrary to the usual user tracking by advertisers and websites.

That blog post, as good as your, "LockBox", -personal- opinion here, right? No comment, just wanted to share it (was already posted on wilders in another thread, that's how I found it).

 

Thanks for the link Anyone who thinks Iron is the one it should try Chromium if not knowleadgeable enough to setup Chrome. Or ditch all chromium browsers altogether and go Firefox. To be honest, considering what Firefox is becoming with 4 n all ... i'm slowly going Chromium.

 

Does anyone know who funds the Chromium project?

 

Google develops and funds the project. Then they add some more bits (branding, auto updater, flash..) on top of it and call it Google Chrome.

 

That is very interesting. A friend of mine said that you can run Ubuntu from a CD. I have never tried it. So if you run Ubuntu from a CD does that mean that it leaves no personal stuff on your OS? Can you use a VM on top of running Ubuntu from a CD? This may sound like a silly question but it is completely new to me.

 

Yes, you can run Ubuntu from an installation CD without installing, and nothing will be saved after shutting down. With a VM, it's simpler to just attach the installation ISO to the VM's CD/DVD drive. If you're paranoid, you can make it read-only. And if you're not going to install, you can remove the VM's hard disk. You can also create VMs with read-only hard disks. That allows you to customize the installation, so you don't need to install OpenVPN, for example, each time you boot. Although you could also get there by editing the ISO, that's apparently rather complicated.

 

Despite the pounding Google and Chrome are receiving from highly qualified "privacy" specialists, the market share of Chrome is rising (however insignificantly). Perhaps, the surveys are faulty or ....?

 

Hi caspian,

Daily, I run my own Live CD environment based on Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS. No hard drives are mounted when I am connected to the Internet unless I allow it, although I mostly disable the connection between my hardware router and computer temporarily until I am done interacting with my hard drive. I have 4GB RAM, of which, 3GB is usable (BIOS restrictions for reserved system use). When I power down, everything in RAM is toast. When I bootup, I have scripts that install tarballs of changes I have introduced - only takes a minute to finish. I do save some things I've downloaded to my hard drive while in a Live CD session, but it is entirely in my control.

I have no personal stuff on my hard drive. That is where removable devices come in handy. The advantage of using a Live CD or USB Flash drive (without persistent storage) is that it is read only and always boots up the same with no malware, in addition to the fact that all installed OSes expose the hard drives to the Internet unless well protected by a multi-layered security approach.

While modifying an ISO is not simple, it's not too complicated either. Basically, you create a new directory on your hard drive to do all the work which amounts to expanding the ISO, then in a chroot environment, figuring out what packages you can do without and removing them, and having previously downloaded any other packages you need, installing them, and then to finish up, create a new ISO, burn it to CD (<= ~730MB), and then test it.

-- Tom

 

That's very interesting, Tom. Do I understand right that you run with your own Live CD "based" on Ubuntu LTS because it's your own "custom" Live CD that you've created by the method you mentioned at the end of your post? I find that fascinating and would love a link to resources that would explain the basics on how to get started with building a customized Live CD with security in mind.

By the way, I agree 100% about the importance of leaving personal data off the hard drive (at least on any PC connecting to the Internet). I've moved to keeping all personal stuff on a Kingston hardware encrypted VAULT flash drive that is only used when actually needed. This is all backed up inside a Truecrypt volume in case of failure of the VAULT flash drive (I keep the TC volume and the VAULT synced regularly) - and I also run with FDE for physical security.

Thanks again for the info to Caspian - good stuff.

 

Instead of manually modifying the ISO you can use remastersys which is easier. The idea is, you install and set up Ubuntu the way you want and then you run remastersys. It does all the magic and in the end you get a live-cd iso file that is a copy of your current setup.

The only pitfall is, if you don't use gnome and you don't want to pull in all those gnome dependencies you need to edit the remastersys config.

 

Hi katio,

Remastersys only works if you have enough disk space on your hard drive, and you have an installed OS. It will not work for me even though I have 4GB RAM, only 3GB usable (not reserved for system), and use a Live CD environment wherein the OS resides in memory - i.e. Remastersys does not recognize the Live CD booted OS and file system in memory as the installed OS and file system. I don't know why - that's just the way it works I guess.

-- Tom