Browser Add-ons for privacy and security
Posted: 2017-11-07 19:02
Note: There was a thread about this a few years ago. Times and software have changed so a fresh review of options is appropriate.
Like many others I like to peruse the Internet cleanly, securely and without being pestered by advertisements and popups. I also don't like being tracked. I'm not up to anything nefarious, I just don't like being a cog in someone's data collection scheme. Consequently I use some browser extensions to assist with cleaning up the mess we find in so many Web sites and to stop the tracking. What follows are some of my findings. They are all open to criticism; there is no magic solution.
At present, I have the following extensions on Firefox. Most, if not all will work on other browsers.
BetterPrivacy to remove "super cookies" generated by Flash.
Canvas Fingerprint Blocker which disables HTML5 tracking.
HTTPS Everywhere.
Privacy Badger. This looks to be good but bears caution. Privacy Badger will deteriorate your browser experience In a nutshell, Privacy Badger doesn't know when to stop and can eventually clog up your browsing experience. True? I don't know.
Self Destructing Cookies.
uBlock Origin.
User-Agent Switcher. This is not really necessary.
I have disabled the following.
Disconnect. It seems to do much of what uBlock Origin does. Is the overlap beneficial?
µMatrix. I installed this as a mate to uBlock Origin. Immediately, Youtube and a major newspaper site failed to load.
Noscript. The closest to a single add-on fix is undoubtedly Noscript. Personally I find it too much work to be constantly tuning it for each and every site visited. What some users do is to use the Tor Browser without Tor which gives Firefox with Noscript already configured. I haven't tried it but might.
Here are some articles with suggested add-ons. They don't always agree.
Better Web Browsing
Hardening Mozilla Firefox For Privacy & Security 2016 Edition That date is important. Advice from 2009 is probably not good today.
How to stop browser tracking
a Review on Tracker and Script Blocker Extensions for Firefox
How about you?
Like many others I like to peruse the Internet cleanly, securely and without being pestered by advertisements and popups. I also don't like being tracked. I'm not up to anything nefarious, I just don't like being a cog in someone's data collection scheme. Consequently I use some browser extensions to assist with cleaning up the mess we find in so many Web sites and to stop the tracking. What follows are some of my findings. They are all open to criticism; there is no magic solution.
At present, I have the following extensions on Firefox. Most, if not all will work on other browsers.
BetterPrivacy to remove "super cookies" generated by Flash.
Canvas Fingerprint Blocker which disables HTML5 tracking.
HTTPS Everywhere.
Privacy Badger. This looks to be good but bears caution. Privacy Badger will deteriorate your browser experience In a nutshell, Privacy Badger doesn't know when to stop and can eventually clog up your browsing experience. True? I don't know.
Self Destructing Cookies.
uBlock Origin.
User-Agent Switcher. This is not really necessary.
I have disabled the following.
Disconnect. It seems to do much of what uBlock Origin does. Is the overlap beneficial?
µMatrix. I installed this as a mate to uBlock Origin. Immediately, Youtube and a major newspaper site failed to load.
Noscript. The closest to a single add-on fix is undoubtedly Noscript. Personally I find it too much work to be constantly tuning it for each and every site visited. What some users do is to use the Tor Browser without Tor which gives Firefox with Noscript already configured. I haven't tried it but might.
Here are some articles with suggested add-ons. They don't always agree.
Better Web Browsing
Hardening Mozilla Firefox For Privacy & Security 2016 Edition That date is important. Advice from 2009 is probably not good today.
How to stop browser tracking
a Review on Tracker and Script Blocker Extensions for Firefox
How about you?