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Open-source tests of web browser privacy

91 pointsby resoluti0nover 3 years ago

13 comments

kdtopover 3 years ago
To me, it seemed that if a browser had passed every test, the user might not be able to use many web sites. Perhaps the current status is a conscious decision by developers to keep users from hating their browser. Security vs usability.
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chrischapmanover 3 years ago
This reminds me so much of the ACID tests[1] from the late 90&#x27;s, early 2000s. I wonder if it will have a similar effect, i.e. to drive people away from Chrome in the same way it eventually drove people away from IE.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Acid1" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Acid1</a>
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xolveover 3 years ago
Firefox with these settings from Librewolf looks very much equivalent: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;gitlab.com&#x2F;librewolf-community&#x2F;settings&#x2F;-&#x2F;blob&#x2F;master&#x2F;distribution&#x2F;policies.json" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;gitlab.com&#x2F;librewolf-community&#x2F;settings&#x2F;-&#x2F;blob&#x2F;maste...</a>
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gunapologist99over 3 years ago
Wow. Glad that I switched to Brave. I&#x27;ve also looked at ungoogled-chromium and other similar forks, but also concerned about tracking the upstream for fixes fast enough; some of the smaller forks take too long. Brave works really well and is a great experience overall (once crypto ads are disabled).
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hilbert42over 3 years ago
Very useful table. But it would be very helpful if the table of test results were furnished with a glossary that:<p>(a) explains the function and workings of each item under test, and,<p>(b) also explain how said item is a threat to one&#x27;s privacy, etc. (how it leaks one&#x27;s info).<p>This ought to be important, for many users wouldn&#x27;t have a clue what some or even many of those functions do and it wouldn&#x27;t be expected as such that they do (given that the internal working of browsers is a specialized business).<p>Second, I tried to send feedback to this effect but could not as I&#x27;m not a Twitter user (it seemingly being the only of sending feedback to PrivacyTests.org).<p>It is highly annoying that such groups don&#x27;t have alternative more neutral methods of feeding back such information, especially so in this instance given PrivacyTests.org&#x27;s stance on privacy (that being its primary reason for being).<p>Perhaps someone with a Twitter account who thinks similarly could send them my feedback and or send them this link.<p><i>Edit: Re results, I was rather surprised to see how poorly Tor featured in the tracking department, it failing every test. I&#x27;d have thought tracking failures would be deemed a significant security risk.<p>Would someone like to comment on this? (BTW, I&#x27;ve little need of Tor&#x27;s security, although I&#x27;ve used it on occasions, thus I can&#x27;t claim I&#x27;m very familiar with it.)</i>
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dopa42365over 3 years ago
More useful would be showing what can be enabled (if it&#x27;s not on by default), how useful it actually is (not every checkmark is created equally heh), and what can be added (especially on the tracking side) by simply installing μblock origin (which everyone would&#x2F;should do in every browser anyway).
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codeptualizeover 3 years ago
Very interesting! I’m positively surprised by the iOS situation, also good to see Tor perform well. Never tried librewolf but I might give it a go.<p>I’m curious what it would look like with some extensions installed.
sebowover 3 years ago
Surprising to see librewolf there; Last time i tried any firefox forks they were all frankly terrible;My go-to privacy browser for work-related stuff or anything serious is ungoogled chromium for years now, any other chromium-based forks like Brave seem private only as a facade.Vivaldi has the best gesture system of any browser hands-down, but my issue in the past with it was performance(especially HW accell).<p>Also ff-based forks have the problem of availability of packages &amp; ease of installation.
NmAmDaover 3 years ago
This is under the assumption that each browser is being used with the default settings, firefox can do much better with customizable settings.
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mbbaigover 3 years ago
Surprising that Tor differentiates itself a little on iOS. I figured with all of them using the same engine the results would all be the same.
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mid-kidover 3 years ago
The entire last two sections are completely arbitrary and cherry-picked, and simply amount to &quot;does the browser ship uBlock and ClearURLs by default with these specific filters&quot;, which isn&#x27;t very informative nor useful a privacy feature, as easy as it is to circumvent by simply using different URL tokens or telemetry providers.
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tonethemanover 3 years ago
These really need context or better explanations.<p>For instance I clicked on the Blob line and the code looks to fetch and URL with a Blob encoded and fetches it again? There is so little context to say what is really wrong... or if there is anything really wrong.<p>I looked up Blobs myself and read through the specs on MDN and I just dont see a problem.
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acqbuover 3 years ago
Brave rulez