this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2024
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Privacy

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My questions are:

  • Does the DuckDuckGo Firefox extension "Privacy Essentials" add a local css file to every visited site?
  • Can others reproduce this?
  • Is this harmfull or not?

Background:

I have a simple static one page site with just one html and css file. It's completely tracker free. Debugging it a bit with developer mode (F12) on I discovered a second css file. This file isnt on my webserver but added local. To pinpoint what caused this I removed every add-on / extension in my browser one by one, reloading and checking my website every time. Took me a while because didnt expect this one causing it.

To reproduce:

  • Install the extension from the link.
  • Open a random site
  • Check in developer mode the tab Style editor.
  • Scroll and look for a file named %3Ais(%5Bid*%3D'google_ads_iframe'%5D%.css or something like that.
  • Remove the extension and refresh.
  • Check if the file disappears.

Content of the css file: :is([id*='google_ads_iframe'], [id*='taboola-'], .taboolaHeight, .taboola-placeholder, #credential_picker_container, #credentials-picker-container, #credential_picker_iframe, [id*='google-one-tap-iframe'], #google-one-tap-popup-container, .google-one-tap-modal-div, #amp_floatingAdDiv, #ez-content-blocker-container) { display:none!important; min-height:0!important; height:0!important; }

Edit 25-03-2024: Changed title to not give the wrong impression. See comments below.

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[โ€“] anamethatisnt 142 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)
[โ€“] [email protected] 54 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Oh thnx, I should search more around. ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ‘

Solid answers there.

[โ€“] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

You should edit the title because most people aren't going to click through and read, they're just going to assume the title is correct.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Fair point, done!

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago
[โ€“] [email protected] 36 points 7 months ago

Without looking too much, I think it is to remove white spaces left behind by removing google ads.

[โ€“] [email protected] -1 points 7 months ago

I dont use the extension, but I saw a CAPTCHA on ddg for the first time the other day. I'm not a bot, but why would it even matter if I wrote a bot that used ddg?

Sigh, what's the best ddg alternative?

[โ€“] [email protected] -2 points 7 months ago

Yeah DDG is kind of a placebo