Overview on browsers. Which one should we use? Support free web while browsing.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Sometimes you have to trust their words if you want to use their services which are being used widely.

I'm not going to trust them and I definitely don't want to use any of their services because I don't want them tracking my every move.

There are better alternatives to everything Google offers which respect users' privacy. Relevant to our discussion, I would advocate using Firefox or Tor instead of Chrome and a proper open source password manager such as KeePass or Bitwarden instead of Google's own. For everything else, you can find good replacements at the following links:

https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/wiki/de-google
https://www.privacytools.io/

[bitmover]

Nowadays there is a lot of fuzzz about brave, because it is really paying for users to navigate online.
On the other hand, Mozilla has enhanced its privacy features.
Firefox now let you know who is tracking you. And blocking them by default

Choose your side: free money or real privacy?


https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/firefox-privacy-protections/

[o_e_l_e_o]

The full changelog for Firefox 70.0 is viewable here: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/70.0/releasenotes/. All these changes were previously achievable with various add-ons and setting tweaks, but it is a welcome addition that they are now included as standard with the basic Firefox browser.

Chrome, in the meantime, instead of also trying to block unwanted cookies and trackers, have released a statement saying that blocking trackers is bad because then how else will websites make profits from selling your data and how else will advertisers be able to build a profile about you to target you with specific ads? It's ok though, they are working on new methods that will steal slightly less of your data than current methods.

The gap between Firefox and Chrome is now so large that it is ridiculous for anyone who cares even remotely about privacy to use Chrome.

[bitmover]

Chrome, in the meantime, instead of also trying to block unwanted cookies and trackers, have released a statement saying that blocking trackers is bad because then how else will websites make profits from selling your data and how else will advertisers be able to build a profile about you to target you with specific ads? It's ok though, they are working on new methods that will steal slightly less of your data than current methods.

Thanks for sharing this.

I was reading, that's so absurd. Google has a big conflict of interest in the subject, what they are writing is unethical and immoral. Look at this:

Second, blocking cookies without another way to deliver relevant ads significantly reduces publishers’ primary means of funding, which jeopardizes the future of the vibrant web. Many publishers have been able to continue to invest in freely accessible content because they can be confident that their advertising will fund their costs. If this funding is cut, we are concerned that we will see much less accessible content for everyone.

They are basically saying that if you don't give them your data freely (by using their products) we will all have to pay for third party software, which are free now. Actually, those free software are buying google ads. If google ads becomes irrelevant, Google will lose their income, not us.

it is even possible that those publishers move to more democratic business models, like BAT/Brave or even something else.

Breaking google's ads monopoly is a gain for everyone but them.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Actually, those free software are buying google ads. If google ads becomes irrelevant, Google will lose their income, not us.

It's complete nonsense. Google only care about their bottom line, and this entire bullshit post phrasing it as if they are looking out for the little guy is completely disingenuous. I also particularly like the "If you block cookies, we'll just have to use fingerprinting to track you instead". Great, then we'll develop tools to block that as well. What a terrible argument it is. Should we just leave our doors unlocked because otherwise the attacker will have to break a window?

There is no such thing as "free". If you are getting something for free, you are the product, and your data is the most valuable product that Google have. They have demonstrated consistently and repeatedly that they will do anything needed to keep collecting your data, from continuing to track your location and collect telemtery even when you have explicitly changed your settings to tell them not to do so, to blocking third party add-ons in Chrome which improve your privacy and block trackers.

It's not just Chrome. People need to stop using any Google product.

[bitmover]

It's not just Chrome. People need to stop using any Google product.

I agree, that's something we really need to do.
However, the alternatives are very bad.

I was trying to using DuckDuckGo... I just kind find anything there. Have you ever tried to find bitcointalk topics there?

I was trying to find my merit source application. I wrote in DDG "Bitmover bitcointalk.org merit source application"

look at the results:


The result is completely ridiculous, as it has nothing to do with the searched terms.

On the other hand, Google results were amazing. I was able to find all the relevant discussions related to my application, even in other boards. I was able to find people mentioning my application elsewhere.


Until DDG or any other search engine has the minimum usability , there is no competition to many google products.

There is a lot of competition on Chrome, which is not the best browser. But android is by far the best OS for mobile (cheaper, more customizable, etc) and google is the best search engine... Sadly, Gmail is still the best mail service as well...

I believe proton mail is better than gmail, however it is paid (and not cheap). Hard to compete..

[TryNinja]

~snip~

Part of what makes Google so good is the fact that they track their user's searches, emails, etc... And it receives a ton more of investment due to how profitable this is. DuckDuckGo doesn't know who you are prior a search, so this puts then miles behind Google usability and prediction.

I believe proton mail is better than gmail, however it is paid (and not cheap). Hard to compete..

ProtonMail is free. It just has a paid variant for those who need specific features. Also, the cheapest "Plus" is just $5/month, while there are promotions like the Black Friday one which makes it cost $3/month in the 2-year plan.

[o_e_l_e_o]

In which case why don't you look in to SearX instead? It's a meta-search engine which will search other engines on your behalf and display the combined results to you, all anonymously. You can host your own instance of it, and if you really want, you can configure it so it just searches Google and nowhere else and returns the results to you. You essentially get Google search without any of the tracking.

As TryNinja says, ProtonMail is free, but there are plenty of other free options availalbe, and paid options from as low as €1 a month. See here: https://www.privacytools.io/providers/email/

[bitmover]

Part of what makes Google so good is the fact that they track their user's searches, emails, etc... And it receives a ton more of investment due to how profitable this is. DuckDuckGo doesn't know who you are prior a search, so this puts then miles behind Google usability and prediction.

I agree, but that's certainly don't the case here. I basically wrote down the page that and the URL. Google would find it in any computer (I have tested as I use many different computers (that I never used before , without logging in on Google account). And the search results are almost the same.

I believe proton mail is better than gmail, however it is paid (and not cheap). Hard to compete..

ProtonMail is free. It just has a paid variant for those who need specific features. Also, the cheapest "Plus" is just $5/month, while there are promotions like the Black Friday one which makes it cost $3/month in the 2-year plan.

The free version is nice but it is very limited. Cannot complete with Gmail. For example, Gmail has unlimited Google storage for photos, Google drive, 8gb of mail etc... While proton mail is something like 500mb, not even a calendar (postponed forever, maybe going to be released Soo )

[o_e_l_e_o]

The free version is nice but it is very limited. Cannot complete with Gmail. For example, Gmail has unlimited Google storage for photos, Google drive, 8gb of mail etc... While proton mail is something like 500mb, not even a calendar (postponed forever, maybe going to be released Soo )

Well, you could always use something like Thunderbird to host your email and have as much storage as you want, and it integrates nicely with Lightning calendar. There are plenty of cloud storage services you can use which don't invade your privacy like Google, such as OwnCloud, NextCloud or Syncthing.

For every Google service there is a privacy respecting alternative. Sure, they might not be as convenient to use as Google, but Google can afford to hire entire teams of developers to work on their services with the money they make from selling your data. You are buying Google's premium services with your information as currency.

[virasog]

On the other hand, Google results were amazing. I was able to find all the relevant discussions related to my application, even in other boards. I was able to find people mentioning my application elsewhere.

Well, You can try Yahoo or bing search engines which will give you much better results than DuckDuckGo. Google search engine is the No. 1 search engine and no one can deny this fact. Even if you, me and few other stop using google search engine, there are users all over the world who will continue using them and their number will increase every passing day.

[noormcs5]

On the other hand, Google results were amazing. I was able to find all the relevant discussions related to my application, even in other boards. I was able to find people mentioning my application elsewhere.

Well, You can try Yahoo or bing search engines which will give you much better results than DuckDuckGo. Google search engine is the No. 1 search engine and no one can deny this fact. Even if you, me and few other stop using google search engine, there are users all over the world who will continue using them and their number will increase every passing day.

You can see the popularity of the search engines.

[LTU_btc]

Well, You can try Yahoo or bing search engines which will give you much better results than DuckDuckGo. Google search engine is the No. 1 search engine and no one can deny this fact. Even if you, me and few other stop using google search engine, there are users all over the world who will continue using them and their number will increase every passing day.

I had tried to use both Bing and Yahoo search engines in past and it was so shitty compared with Google. It was so difficult to find things that I was looking for. Now I tried it after long break and they haven't improved at all. And I doubt that these search engines is much better than Google in terms of privacy...

[JohnBitCo]

Well, You can try Yahoo or bing search engines which will give you much better results than DuckDuckGo. Google search engine is the No. 1 search engine and no one can deny this fact. Even if you, me and few other stop using google search engine, there are users all over the world who will continue using them and their number will increase every passing day.

I had tried to use both Bing and Yahoo search engines in past and it was so shitty compared with Google. It was so difficult to find things that I was looking for. Now I tried it after long break and they haven't improved at all. And I doubt that these search engines is much better than Google in terms of privacy...

Bing is owned by Microsoft and yahoo is owned by Verizon Media. You do not except them to protect your privacy online because the their main purpose is earn the money even compromising the user's privacy. Unfortunately  the search engines which respects the privacy, are not so popular because their search results are not accurate.

[lobat999]

Guys I think we should always remember that no matter what kind of browser we prefer to use in order to enhance our privacy, at the end of the day, it won't matter anymore if we don't observe proven cybersecurity practices that could minimize our risk of being compromised!

So I guess the best way to do this is to do it in a comprehensive approach, combining the best security and privacy practices and observe it consistently. Imho.

Below are some links that could guide us improve our security and privacy:

https://heimdalsecurity.com/blog/cyber-security-tips/

https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/privacy-ten-tips-2018/23022/

[o_e_l_e_o]

https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/privacy-ten-tips-2018/23022/

Some of the advice in that article is poor, and mostly it seems to exist to convince people to buy Kaspersky products, which is absolutely not necessary if you care about your privacy.

Change your social network account privacy settings.

This achieves literally nothing. Facebook, Instagram, Google, whoever, still have all your data and still sell it to third parties. The only way to avoid this is to not use them at all. Delete your accounts. You don't need them.

Use Private Browsing in Kaspersky Internet Security to avoid Internet tracking.

Unnecessary. Start here for advice on how toughen up your browser to avoid tracking: https://www.privacytools.io/browsers/

Use a messaging app with end-to-end encryption — for example, WhatsApp

Actually laughed at this one. Thinking WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, which is having backdoors built in to it at the request of the US government, is a good choice for secure messaging is laughable. Use Signal or Riot.

Use a Kaspersky Password Manager to make using secure passwords easier.

Again, completely unnecessary. Why would you buy a closed source piece of software, when better open source alternatives exist for free. Use KeePass.

Use passwords or biometric authentication to lock your phones, tablets, and computers.

Biometrics are not secure. Avoid their use.

[alani123]

In general, firefox is a pretty good browser.
Mozilla strives to promote the cause of an open web and do much to promote new technologies and user rights.
However, in their efforts to work on a user friendly browser in oar with competition, they push many closed source features based on proprietary tech. There are many forms of firefox however. TOR even being one. So if someone wants an extra bit of security, it's always good to shop around for what would fit their needs best.

[o_e_l_e_o]

There are many forms of firefox however. TOR even being one. So if someone wants an extra bit of security, it's always good to shop around for what would fit their needs best.

If security is your main concern, I would advocate not shopping around and sticking with either Firefox or Tor.

The problem with the vast majority of Firefox forks - Waterfox, Pale Moon, Basilisk, to name the most common - is that they are based on old versions and old code, and they lag behind Firefox in terms of security updates, sometimes by several weeks or even months. Any time bugs or security flaws are discovered, after Firefox patches them the devs of each fork has to examine the patch, adjust it as necessary to work with their fork, test it, and then integrate it. Some critical vulnerabilities have gone unpatched for weeks, which is an unacceptable security risk.

Also worth pointing out that the most popular Firefox fork - Waterfox - has been bought over by an advertising company.