Firefox, FEBE and privacy

Discussion in 'privacy technology' started by Gitmo East, Nov 30, 2013.

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  1. Gitmo East

    Gitmo East Registered Member

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    I use FEBE https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/febe/
    I save my full Firefox profile and import it whenever I need it on a new distro/OS, really saves a lot of time and headaches.
    I have been wondering if this FEBE profile is track-able across the webs. I suspect it may be :doubt:
    Does anyone know any more than I do in this regard ? The best outcome would be "no" the fully restored Firefox appears as a entirely new instance.
     
  2. TheCatMan

    TheCatMan Registered Member

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    Is it backing up the profile onto the hard drive?

    If it was backing it up online or to a cloud then perhaps a bit of a concern...

    If any other concerns best to disable any febe files or programs from accessing the internet and block it down with your firewall to be on the safe side.

    It looks good may try it out although I think I will just keep the addons listed this way one can download the latest builds/versions and keep up to date, this program would encourage me to get be a lazy cat :)
     
  3. Gitmo East

    Gitmo East Registered Member

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    Lol !! I see lazy but read organized ;)
    My main concern with this is If sites can map/track my Firefox re-installation in a Panopticlick style. If this is the case it matters not what hardening and anonymizing measures i take, as the browser can be traced back in time over multiple distro's and computers.
    FEBE backs up the entire FF profile, about:config tweaks inc.
     
  4. inka

    inka Registered Member

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    FEBE just facilitates your on demand backup/restore to a local destination path of your choice. I can't see anything new, anything "more trackable", which is introduced by usage of FEBE. In fact, using the FEBE mechanism to restore your profileset or copy it your other PC would be hella less "trackable" operation than performing a could-based "sync", eh.
     
  5. Gitmo East

    Gitmo East Registered Member

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    Sure beats 99% of cloud based syncs.
    Ok so does copying my profile set to a new Firefox on a new OS give the new browser the same "finger print" as the original instance of FF, I suppose I'm trying to figure out if any thing uniquely identifying is copied across within the profile set ?
     
  6. TheCatMan

    TheCatMan Registered Member

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    I think I understand where you are coming from, perhaps from a super paranoia level beyond most :D I feel you could never be 100% sure not unless you installed the browser from scratch and did all your bookmarks and addons all over again from scratch just to be on the safe side.

    Its a bit like how the experts suggest you can create a new username and new email address but if they can see you spell "tamoto" on another website it can also I.D you.

    I am pretty paranoid but if any "other" concerns are there always safe guard yourself with multiple layers of trust and then add another one :p
     
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