this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2023
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Privacy

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Does it even make sense to care about privacy? (self.privacy)
submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by deepdive to c/[email protected]
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Heyha !

This is probably going to be long take and it's late here in europe... So for those who bare with me and are ready to read through my broken English, thank you.

I'm personally concerned about how my data and my identity is used against my will while surfing the web or using/hosting services. Self-hoster and networking enthousiast, I have some entry/medium security infrastructure.

Ranging from self-hosted adblocker, dns, router, vlans, containers, server, firewall, wireguard, VPN... you name it ! I was pretty happy to see all my traffic being encrypted through wireshark and having what I consider a solid homelab.

Also having most undesired dns/ads blocked with adguard in firefox with custom configuration, blocking everything, and changing some about:config options:

  • privacy.resistFingerprinting
  • privacy.trackingprotection.fingerprinting.enabled
  • ...

I though I had some pretty harden security and safe browsing experience, but oh my I was wrong...

From pixel tracking, to WebRTC leaking your real ip, fonts fingreprinting, canvas fingreprinting, audio fingerprinting, android default keyboard sending samples, ssl certificate with known vulnerabilities...

And most of them are not even some new tracking tech... I mean even firefox 54 was aware of most of these way of fingerprinting the user, and it makes me feel firefox is just another hidden evil-corp hiding with a fancy privacy facade ! Uhhg...

And even if you somehow randomize those fingerprint, user-agent and block most of those things, this makes you stand out of the mass and makes you even easier to track or fingerprint. Yeah something I read recently and it actually make sense... the best way to be somehow invisible is actually to blend into the mass... If you stand out, you are pretty sure to be notices and identified (if that makes sense :/)

This really makes me depressed right now... It feels like a losing battle where my energy is just being wasted to try to have some privacy and anonimity on the web... While fighting against the new laws ringing on our doors and big tech company always having two steps ahead...

I'm really asking myself if it really matters and if it actually make sense to use harden technology or browsers like arkenfox or the tor browser whose end node are mostly intercepted by private institutions and governemental institutions...

I'm probably overthinking and falling into a deep hole... But the more i dig into security and privacy, the more I get the feeling that this is an already lost battle against big tech...

Some recent source:

https://avoidthehack.com/firefox-privacy-config

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Edit: Crossed out slightly out of date recommendations, see comments.

Do not confuse privacy with anonymity. Your goal is not to defend against governments or other entities with limitless resourced, but against profit oriented companies. By reducing the amount of data you leak and obfuscating what is left, your data becomes progressively worthless as you improve your setup. This is a good thing, because companies will focus their limited resources on areas with a higher profit margin.

Given your description, I think the network side of IT security is pretty much top notch, firmly in the top 0.1% if not 0.01% of users. However most of the tracking happens at the browser level, so it alone does not protect you that much.

Firefox is a solid base, but it is optimized to not break any websites, rather then providing maximum privacy. You can try to tweak settings manually, but I'd rather recommend you to use LibreWolf on PC and Mull on Android. Both are pre-configure, hardened versions of Firefox, that also have proprietary Mozilla features like "Pocket" and some telemetry removed form the source. A standard install has basically no downsides, 99.9% of sites work normally and privacy is quite good.

Librewolf has ublock origin pre-installed and pre-configured with sane defaults. I'd recommend the following additional addons:

  • Decentraleyes: Local CDC cache to reduce third party requests. Improves privacy, performance and doesn't break anything. No configuration needed.
  • ~~Privacy Badger: Prevents some interactive features (disqus comment section, embedded youtube player, etc) from loading until explicitly confirmed with a mouse click. Also prevents some tracking in the background, but that might eb covered by ublock already.~~
  • Cookie AutoDelete + I still don't care about cookies: This combo silently suppresses all cookie pop-ups, allows them for the session and cleans up afterwards. This is different then disabling all cookies, and does not brake websites then rely on them while providing all privacy benefits.
  • Disable WebRTC: WebRTC can leak your IP address, but disabling it breaks eg. real-time video calls. This plugin is a simple toggle, only turn it on when you need to.

If you are willing to do some fine tuning or accept broken sites, consider also:

  • noscript: Most privacy leaks happen because of Javascript, but disabling it basically makes the modern web unusable. noscript offers a middle ground to enable/disable javascript on a domain-by-domain basis. Can be annoying at times, but arguably the best way to defend yourself.
  • ~~Canvas Blocker: WebGL powers most of the advanced visuals, and can read out a lot of data that is used for fingerprinting. This plugin can randomized requested data to protect you, but it also brakes sites in weird and unexpected ways. It's powerful, but I rarely use it these days.~~

And finally consider some obfuscation techniques to throw of the remaining trackers. Right now I only use one, and highly recommend it because of its effectiveness:

  • Font Fingerprint Defender: Using javascript, websites can read out the list of installed fonts on your device. Some programs install fonts in the background when opening a document with missing fonts, so this list is highly unique for each user and effective for tracking. The plugin throws is some noise, and causes automatic systems to detect you as a new unique user each time.

All of this throws off the vast majority of trackers, and puts you in the top 0.1% of users. Yes, this also makes you kinda "unique", because websites may notice the effort you put in to defend yourself. Bad idea if you try to hide from the government, you should be using TOR for that anyway, but great to signal companies that you are not worth the squeeze.

Keep your head up bro. The situation is not as terrible as it may seem, but companies want you to believe that, so that you don't even try.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Some of your recommendations on extensions are a bit out of date

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Thanks for the heads up, my setup is indeed 6-12 months old. My thoughts on the linked list:

  • uBlock origin is the #1 recommended plugin, and can make some other plugins redundent, see below
  • Decentraleyes only helps only for some scripts/sites and may be fingerprintable. Considering that it targets major CDNs and it's widespread use, I still think it's benefits outweigh the possible downside, especially if used in conjunction with a good VPN, so its optional but I'd keep it.
  • Privacy Badger used to be unique in that it creates a custom blocking list based on your behavior. There was some security and privacy vulnerability with this method, so it's no longer done. It depends now solely on a pre-trained list just like uBlock origin, offers no additional features and should be removed.
  • Cookie extensions may give you a false sense of privacy as they do nothing for IP tracking or other vectors. However they do patch one area, and are useful if used correctly and together with other methods.
  • noscript is technically covered by uBlock origin as well, but the UI is far superior and you'll be using that a lot.
  • Canvas Blocker was an optional plugin to begin with, and starting Firefox 120 the FPP (Fingerprint Protection) can subtly randomize canvas, hopefully with less problems. You should be using this build in feature instead of the plugin.
  • Font Fingerprint Defender is the one plugin that broke tracking on fingerprint.com, combined with VPN IP change, despite javascript being enabled. If you care about privacy, and not anonymity, you should still be using this.
[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Thanks for the summary and edits 🫶