Any value to adding Privacy Badger to Firefox is I'm already using uBlock Origin, Traffic Light and Adguard?
Probably not really necessary, but from time to time, each one catches something that the other doesn't.
In my brief experience with Adguard I didn't see anything that uBO couldn't do. uBO can and does everything Adguard does and a whole lot more (if we are discussing the Firefox extension), so Adguard is redundant, at least on my machines.
See this post. Incidentally I also use uBlockO alongside Adguard: https://forum.adguard.com/index.php?threads/using-ublocko-with-adguard.8416/ Totally OTT, I know.
@Krusty - Out of curiosity (and if you don't mind me asking) how come you're using Windows 10? Isn't that a privacy nightmare?
That is a fair question. Since I believe Win7 and Win8/8.1 are becoming more like Win10 with regards to telemetry, can I rephrase your question to 'why am I using Windows'? If I was really serious about anonymity I certainly wouldn't be using Windows. For me, that is a fight I would find hard to win, so instead I'm just trying to make my browsing a little more private. In the case of Windows 10, I have quietened down its phoning home by manually disabling most privacy related settings and by using O&O ShutUp10. As has been mentioned elsewhere, telemetry does not equal spying anyway. Also, Win10 is the most secure version of Windows and for me, sometimes I have to decide between security and privacy. That is the same reason why I use Chrome from time to time. Less private but more secure (compared to Firefox). Everyone has to make their own decisions about their privacy, but I've found that, like security, the more locked down we make our machines the less user-friendly they can be. Thanks for asking.
Fair enough! Thanks for taking the time to explain, I appreciate the insight . Not to proselytize, but I'm a big fan of Linux; anything keeping you away from FOSS options other than preference (e.g. other security concerns, etc.)?
To generalise from Windows vs Linux etc., it can help to think about compartmentalisation and things like snapshotting virtual machines and so on. While I think there is a lot of sense in making the VM host machine FOSS, to some extent, the choice of operating system within a virtual machine is whatever suits your purpose and the configuration of your VMs. Aside from gaming (which I'd put on a physically separate machine and an untrusted network), Windows works just fine in a VM, and can allow you to run applications that need Windows without exposing your keystrokes and data to it uncontrolled. This way of working enhances both security and privacy because it allows for the reversion and clean-slate approach, as well as anonomising the operating system to a fair extent, and preventing it from seeing your actual environment. As well, it encourages you to separate your personas if you are operating more than 1. I'd certainly recommend doing so, because you cannot avoid, to a fair extent, having an anodyne public persona, but you may have very good and legitimate reasons for not having other information cross over into that one.
Very true. I boot from separate partitions generally but I have a handful of VMs I play with from time to time as well. I'm guess I'm asking because I've never really had a good experience with Windows - I just don't understand the draw. I keep a partition set aside for Win 7 on the off-chance I need to experiment on it but otherwise I don't touch the thing. Blood pressure starts to climb too quickly . Not to start a pissing match, but I just don't understand why people choose to use it (save of course for programs for which there are no non-Windows alternatives). IMHO, Windows : [Other OSs] :: IE : [Other browsers]. I'm sure there are reasons I'm just ignorant of, so if you know of any please let me know!
I've been using Privacy Tools IO in Firefox.. https://www.privacytools.io/ and discovered something i wasn't aware of. When Firefox updates most of the settings you make in about:config revert to the default settings. "i should have caught this sooner"
I think I'm pretty agnostic about all that stuff - I mean, I've come from punched cards, PDP-11s, various mini and mainframe OSs, so I'm pretty jaundiced about OS wars. But, Windows has had some good applications, like older versions of Excel, and some of the video and photo editing suites come to mind. Yes, I know, Mac too, but then that's not FOSS either, you're drinking the poison either way. Linux has caught up a lot with easy to use and good applications, and with making the distros more approachable. I'm not phased by command line, but life is short, so I'm not always willing to invest the time. Starting from today, yes, I'd be mainly Linux or BSD, but quite happy to pop a Windows VM into the mix (though the retail licencing for that is crazy). For me though, Windows 10 does represent a watershed because I think it's a cloud operating system, a kind of browser with hyper-privilege to your disk and keyboard. The business model for it has changed. That's not what I want from a client desktop operating system, and it also highlights, in conjunction with the uncontrolled spying, that that situation is untenable for me, unless I can effectively turn it back into a less privileged browser by putting it in a VM. So, the good thing about VMs is you can just use the one that makes most sense to you and your previous investment in apps. Give it the environment that is suitable. Compartmentalise your use.
Well said! Punch cards must have been neat - wish I had the same breadth of experience! That's one reason I enjoy the Privacy Settings add-on. It ensures those changes persist across updates, but a caveat to bear in mind is that if Mozilla changes the name of the about:config entries before the PS devs can update then you can run into similar trouble. Fortunately that's rare, I think.
Windows has one big advantage. Plug N Play Driver support. No other OS except maybe OSX has such a good Driver support. Most devices just work in a Windows OS with out any need for the command line or tweaks. Is Windows secure? No. Can you make it secure? Probably not with out air-gaping your PC from outside networks. Privacy wise you can do a lot to tweak Windows 10. We use Enterprise versions at work and with some Firewall rules and tweaks you can have some privacy. Not saying it's perfect but Windows has come a long with security and I see them going the way of OSX with a Windows certified App Store.
One of the specific problems of Windows 10 retail licencing is that Enterprise features are now unavailable to SMB or prosumers who do not want to descend into the Enterprise rabbit-hole. Whereas before, Windows 7 Ultimate had all features, the "upgrade" to W10 Pro does not. Windows 10 also does some "good things" regarding secure boot and use of TPM with boot, and system FDE, which, if you trusted it all, offers greater protection of that process than Linux at this point. My view is that it's good for normal commercial threats, which is what I guess most businesses would want to protect. It is also possible to virtually and partially air-gap Windows in a VM.
You would not, you would use a chrome based hybrid browser like Iridium or Brave that has stripped much if not all of the google stuff out of it or un-google Chromium.
I'm probably irrationally paranoid but I just don't trust much of anything they're behind. That said, I'm putting a reference together and would love some more info on the privacy of Chromium-based browsers if you have any. I'd be in your debt!
@Krusty, @deBoetie, @ComputerSaysNo - You've got me thinking and I'd be interested to get your opinions over here; mind helping me spur a discussion with your insights? https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/what-is-your-threat-model.390300/
I have been using Privacy Badger for a while. It is different from the other tracker protections that rely on blocklists. Is uses an algorithm developed to detect tracking behavior. From what I have seen it seems to catch some things that are missed by either uMatix or uBblock Origin. So I keep it around as a second opinion, layered approach EFF says, "If an advertiser seems to be tracking you across multiple websites without your permission, Privacy Badger automatically blocks that advertiser from loading any more content in your browser. To the advertiser, it's like you suddenly disappeared."
All defaults enabled, plus I am also running uMatrix as my initial script blocker. But for mainstream media sites, I usually give them a "all-clear" whitelist in uMatix, which then uBlock picks up the remaining pieces, followed by Privacy Badger that gets any scraps leftover
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i'm using "uBlock origin" and "Browsing protection by F-secure" (similar to Bitdefenders Traffic light). I'm also thinking about VPN for all my machines: i already puchased licences for windscribe-VPN and cyberghost-VPN.
