Brave Software has announced plans to deprecate the 'Strict' fingerprinting protection mode in its privacy-focused Brave Browser because it causes many sites to function incorrectly.
I’ve been having a pretty good experience with Mullvad, however I don’t hear many people talking about it. I wonder why is that, IIRC it’s being developed with Tor Foundation, and is basically a Tor browser for clear web, and that sounds perfect. So far, I didn’t run into any issues, so is there a catch, or are they just not well enough known yet? Or, maybe people are turned away by their optional VPN?
Probably because LibreWolf is most of the way there, and the Mullvad branding + proprietary VPN is more than a bit much. I use(d) the VPN alongside it and found the add-on “hints” regarding the correct DNS settings more frustrating than helpful, too.
I was using LibreWolf before, but I really like the idea of bundling VPN + Browser, and also the way they handle payments - not only is Mullvad VPN kind of cheap, I can just pay with crypto and don’t need any account (kind of - you just generate username that also serves as an password, without any other contact information required).
But what I like the most about it is the idea of making a browser with the goal of having the same fingerprint between users (as much as possible), and offering it with a VPN - becuase that means that most of other users of the VPN will probably also have the same fingerprint from the browser, so you will blend in with them. I wasn’t really sold on the idea of VPN before that and didn’t use one, but this was what convinced me.
But tbh I haven’t done much research into the company, or into the effectivness of their implementation. I’m kind of betting on their cooperation with Tor Browser, which should have most of this stuff already figured out. But it’s possible that other browsers are just better at it, I never checked.
I do however still use LibreWolf for the occasional site that breaks with Mullvad, but it’s not something that happens too often.
I use(d) the VPN alongside it and found the add-on “hints” regarding the correct DNS settings more frustrating than helpful, too.
Hmm, I don’t think I’ve ever noticed anything about DNS. I think I’ve actually never click on the browser vpn extension, though :D Is it the encrypted DNS hint?
I have done that, and it a horrible, it takes more work to make a useChrone.css on firefox than to setup a wm on linux lol
You can also use any of the forks of chromium and not support google, what you said is like telling people not use grapheneos because it is a fork of android.
If we had a working alternative to Android as a whole, we would surely use it. But Linux on mobile works only in few devices and not flawlessly at all. But for the Chromium monopoly we have an actual alternative that works.
Linux on phones already work, just that phonecalls might not work sometimes, but if you are into privacy you might as well not use that anyway lol.
So yeah, time to drop graphene and start using linux on phones, if you managed to get firefox to work you can use linux phones, sure some websites might not work on firefox (that is not fault of firefox, same way not all apps might work on linux) and you may need to do some coding to get some things to your liking (using custom.css files is like settings up a bunch of configs and scripts on linux) and you might need to add a bunch extensions to get basic features (like adding extensions to gnome lol).
Yeah, Firefox lacks features like built-in pop-up ads, full screen homepage ads (those ones are enabled by default), and a VPN you probably didn’t even purchase.
Truly, the features I wanted to clog up my hard drive whether I use them or not
FIrefox lacks vertical tabs, can’t change the default new tab page background color without having to use a custom .css file.
Having to use a userContent.css for something so basic is insane. That is orders of magnitude more work than disabling the crypto ads in brave which you don’t even have to go in the settings to disable, it is right on the homepage menu.
Also firefox lacks configurable keybinds and when I used librewolf I had to add two extensions for something that basic.
One was to change the default keybinds to changing tabs from alt+123 to control+123 because for some reason they changed it on linux to that which is retarded (opening a new tab is still control+t so you can’t just say that it is all the control options that got moved to alt lol).
The other extension was to deattach the tab which firefox has no keybind set for it.
And one of the best features that firefox has, which is the userChrome.css has only gotten worse over time with it breaking with new updates and also now having it disabled by default and hidden inside the about:config menu.
The default vpn on brave is terrible, although that only affected windows. And firefox is only slightly better on this because and pardon me if I’m mistaken (I don’t wanna install firefox to check lol) didn’t they change the default settings to send all dns over https to cloudflare? On librewolf they got rid of the default one and you have to provide one instead.
Edit: Look no further, you even have to install ublock origin on firefox to get rid of ads and also configure its filter list if you want to get rid of cookie prompts, something that brave does by default already.
That is horrible that you have to install a bunch of extensions for basic features, and one of those extensions to fix something that mozilla went out of their way to break on linux and not that they havent add.
And there is also things like syncing the user sessions and settings without an email which brave can do while firefox and forks can’t
edit: And you ignored half of my comment, doing css to get firefox to work IS NOT EASY lmao.
Honestly you really should be using Firefox.
The real answer
Firefox’s resist fingerprinting breaks sites too.
It doesn’t really break things for me personally. However if it does break something just turn it off.
deleted by creator
I’ve been having a pretty good experience with Mullvad, however I don’t hear many people talking about it. I wonder why is that, IIRC it’s being developed with Tor Foundation, and is basically a Tor browser for clear web, and that sounds perfect. So far, I didn’t run into any issues, so is there a catch, or are they just not well enough known yet? Or, maybe people are turned away by their optional VPN?
Probably because LibreWolf is most of the way there, and the Mullvad branding + proprietary VPN is more than a bit much. I use(d) the VPN alongside it and found the add-on “hints” regarding the correct DNS settings more frustrating than helpful, too.
I was using LibreWolf before, but I really like the idea of bundling VPN + Browser, and also the way they handle payments - not only is Mullvad VPN kind of cheap, I can just pay with crypto and don’t need any account (kind of - you just generate username that also serves as an password, without any other contact information required).
But what I like the most about it is the idea of making a browser with the goal of having the same fingerprint between users (as much as possible), and offering it with a VPN - becuase that means that most of other users of the VPN will probably also have the same fingerprint from the browser, so you will blend in with them. I wasn’t really sold on the idea of VPN before that and didn’t use one, but this was what convinced me.
But tbh I haven’t done much research into the company, or into the effectivness of their implementation. I’m kind of betting on their cooperation with Tor Browser, which should have most of this stuff already figured out. But it’s possible that other browsers are just better at it, I never checked.
I do however still use LibreWolf for the occasional site that breaks with Mullvad, but it’s not something that happens too often.
Hmm, I don’t think I’ve ever noticed anything about DNS. I think I’ve actually never click on the browser vpn extension, though :D Is it the encrypted DNS hint?
yes, why are people so allergic to it??
The UI is somewhat clunky and it feels half dead.
I really wish Mozilla would rethink there business.
whats clunky about it??
a browser is just an address bar and tabs
With tons if spacing between everything
compact mode, in the same place you would change the theme
i use it for this very reason
Firefox lacks a ton of features and its default settings have terrible fingerprinting protection to start.
Then customize it. Honestly they aren’t all that bad and by using Firefox you ate not supporting google.
I have done that, and it a horrible, it takes more work to make a useChrone.css on firefox than to setup a wm on linux lol
You can also use any of the forks of chromium and not support google, what you said is like telling people not use grapheneos because it is a fork of android.
If we had a working alternative to Android as a whole, we would surely use it. But Linux on mobile works only in few devices and not flawlessly at all. But for the Chromium monopoly we have an actual alternative that works.
Linux on phones already work, just that phonecalls might not work sometimes, but if you are into privacy you might as well not use that anyway lol.
So yeah, time to drop graphene and start using linux on phones, if you managed to get firefox to work you can use linux phones, sure some websites might not work on firefox (that is not fault of firefox, same way not all apps might work on linux) and you may need to do some coding to get some things to your liking (using custom.css files is like settings up a bunch of configs and scripts on linux) and you might need to add a bunch extensions to get basic features (like adding extensions to gnome lol).
Yeah, Firefox lacks features like built-in pop-up ads, full screen homepage ads (those ones are enabled by default), and a VPN you probably didn’t even purchase.
Truly, the features I wanted to clog up my hard drive whether I use them or not
FIrefox lacks vertical tabs, can’t change the default new tab page background color without having to use a custom .css file.
Having to use a userContent.css for something so basic is insane. That is orders of magnitude more work than disabling the crypto ads in brave which you don’t even have to go in the settings to disable, it is right on the homepage menu.
Also firefox lacks configurable keybinds and when I used librewolf I had to add two extensions for something that basic.
One was to change the default keybinds to changing tabs from alt+123 to control+123 because for some reason they changed it on linux to that which is retarded (opening a new tab is still control+t so you can’t just say that it is all the control options that got moved to alt lol).
The other extension was to deattach the tab which firefox has no keybind set for it.
And one of the best features that firefox has, which is the userChrome.css has only gotten worse over time with it breaking with new updates and also now having it disabled by default and hidden inside the about:config menu.
The default vpn on brave is terrible, although that only affected windows. And firefox is only slightly better on this because and pardon me if I’m mistaken (I don’t wanna install firefox to check lol) didn’t they change the default settings to send all dns over https to cloudflare? On librewolf they got rid of the default one and you have to provide one instead.
Edit: Look no further, you even have to install ublock origin on firefox to get rid of ads and also configure its filter list if you want to get rid of cookie prompts, something that brave does by default already.
These are all UI things you can add with extensions or some modding. Firefox needs forks for that.
Not to speak of actual features like sandboxing on android, user namespace sandboxing on Linux, and more.
Yeah no biggy, just some 7 extensions and some css and you will get somewhat usable experience on Firefox…
And? It’s not hard at all to install extensions.
That is horrible that you have to install a bunch of extensions for basic features, and one of those extensions to fix something that mozilla went out of their way to break on linux and not that they havent add.
And there is also things like syncing the user sessions and settings without an email which brave can do while firefox and forks can’t
edit: And you ignored half of my comment, doing css to get firefox to work IS NOT EASY lmao.