Adblock Plus all you need?

I ran across this article explaining that Adblock Plus is all a person need for privacy. However, I find that hard to believe, but I'm willing to give it a try as an experiment.

http://lifehacker.com/the-best-browser-extensions-that-protect-your-privacy-479408034

 

Well, blocking ads is the first step

Cookie management, especially blocking third-party cookies, is the second.

Firefox etc handle flash cookies now, but not HTML5 storage. TrackerBlock looks interesting for that, and for blocking tracking. But voluntary "Do Not Track" requests and opt-out cookies are scams, I think.

Then there's NoScript, and RefControl.

Anything else?

 

In my experience Adblock (without plus) works better than the "plus".

 

Im actually using both of them.

 

On both Firefox and Chrome (Dragon), I using HTTPS Everywhere, Adblock Plus, and Disconnect. Adblock plus I'm using Easylist, Fanboy, and Maleware Domain filters. I had removed Noscript from Firefox and ScriptSafe formerly known as ScriptNo from Chrome. Browsers seem to respond faster, but security wise have to wait and see.

 

It really depends on the browser. In Firefox, chances are good that ABP with appropriate lists and 3rd party cookies blocked will be enough. Chrome, perhaps not because, regardless of what is supposed to happen, adblockers act differently and don't seem to work as well. With it you may need to add in something like Disconnect/DoNotTrackMe. IE has the disadvantage that Flash seems to be an allow all or allow none deal, and when you have wanted Flash content on the same page you have Flash ads, well, you see the issue there.

@Dogbite: You know, that actually was the case for quite some time. But I've noticed lately that AdBlock is starting to perform more poorly and is buggier. Both of them are extremely poor at blocking pop-ups, especially in Chrome (Firefox has a much more effective pop-up blocker imho).

Anyway, it depends on the level of privacy you're aiming for to decide whether or not ABP is enough. It will block most ads and trackers, but won't do a thing for you if you are looking to stay "hidden". That's the realm of TOR and the like, which leads to a new set of issues when you're surfing slower than a snail walks and the moment you enable scripting, Flash and other plugins, you're no longer hidden.

Edit: As an FYI, Disconnect no longer works with IE.

 

Here's an experiment for you: Create a custom Adblock Plus filter that will block download.mozilla.org and then click on the following link (Firefox 20 for Windows).

https://download.mozilla.org/?product=firefox-20.0&os=win&lang=en-US

Another one: Create a custom Adblock Plus filter that will block download.cdn.mozilla.net and then try clicking on the above link.

For reference, here are the requests that happen when I load the above URL...

Note: I'm running 20.0.1 and have both mixed content blocking preferences set to true. See anything interesting in the above?

Don't forget to undo those test filters.

 

The best thing against trackers is RequestPolicy from Firefox, but it will give headaches after a while (or since the beginning). The problem with Adblock is that it will not block tracking through images (many people post images on the internet using facebook, google or other tracking websites), videos (youtube) or things like Google's AJAX API which is almost every where these days. Unless you start filtering yourself those things.

 

Thanks, I will give this a try.

 

In the first case the address will not be blocked, and in the second case it will be blocked. This happens (I think) because of the way AdBlock Plus is designed to use the Gecko engine: http://adblockplus.org/en/faq_internal - see the part about "How does Adblock Plus block addresses?".
In the first experiment, because of the redirection, there is no actual html page loaded from download.mozilla.org, so no filter related to it will work.

Thanks TheWindBringeth for actually making me lookup the way AdBlock Plus works; I learned something new

 

Based on my testing and reading, Adblock Plus as currently implemented won't block either the request to download.mozilla.org *or* the subsequent, as a result of redirection, request to download.cdn.mozilla.net. If you've actually tried it and succeeded at blocking either one, please share the filter you used and confirm that *all* requests to the "blocked domain" were prevented.

FWIW, I have tried the BlockSite addon (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/blocksite/) and with it I *am* able to block each of those requests. I haven't fully tested the BlockSite addon though, and thus don't know if there is some other scenario where it falls short.

 

I spoke too soon. There are some problems with the internet connection, so the fact that the second request was blocked was in fact not true. I will redo the test later, when the ISP problems are solved. But based on what you said, the second site will probably be allowed as well.

 

i would go with noscript only

 

i'll throw one here that seems to always generate debate, but I use it and trust it. I'm talking about Evidon's Ghostery.
I always add it to all Chrome browsers that I use.

 

I use Adblock Plus with RequestPolicy. I dropped Noscript in favor of controlling third-party scripts with Adblock Plus.