Very true - and I don’t extend actual trust all that far. I just wanted to point out that IF you don’t have a REAL need for privacy, then such providers, in the effort to appear innocuous may well be a good place to be for convenient use - they don’t want to be painfully obvious if their business model is too flawed.
As I mentioned, I use Firefox when it ‘matters’ more - for me that is not too frequent, however. Not that I expect that it is proof against determined opposition - not sure anything is - but the continued action on the part of the governments etc leads one to believe they aren’t finding it as easy as they would like to!
I personally use regular (stable) Mozilla Firefox with a custom user.js based on Yokoffing’s Betterfox. I add my own preferences to it as I see fit, as I am a believer of KISS and less is more.
Furthermore, I used to maintain my own from scratch, but when I found out it was for 70% the same as Betterfox… I just moved over on that as basis. Seemed to work better for me, since I don’t really use the Mozilla features associated with having an account(dont have one). Just back up the bookmarks and the user.js once in a while, and good enough for me.
I do keep one Chromium based browser on my PC, since quite a few websites are getting more lazy in development and basing it off 100% google standards… the rare duck of a website that only works on Chromium… Which is becoming more prevailant.
I still use Librewolf, with some additional custom hardening, like blocking all cross site JavaScript. It’s like vanilla Firefox, only without all the crap like pocket, and Goolag search engine you cannot remove.
Out of the box Firefox does not let you remove Goolag through the settings menu, the remove button is disabled. You can probably remove it by editing the config files.
I’ve been using presearch.com as my search engine. It anonymizes your search and then sends out to multiple engines without identifying you as the user.
Another thing worth mentioning is, as long as you’re hardening your browser and/or selecting secure browser options, you should probably be setting your privacy preferences on any online services you use or, at least, reading what their policies are. I’m also getting into the habit of using VPN when connecting to public WiFi.
Choosing a privacy-focused browser really comes down to your needs. I use Firefox most of the time because it’s easy to tweak for privacy. With add-ons like uBlock Origin and Facebook Container, plus a few adjustments in the settings, it offers solid protection.
Brave is another browser I’ve tried. It’s good out of the box with a built-in ad blocker and privacy features, though it’s worth reading up on its privacy policies to make sure it fits your expectations.
For serious anonymity, I go with TOR. It’s the best option if you want to stay hidden, especially if you pair it with Tails OS, but it can limit some website functions.
If you need to juggle multiple accounts securely, an anti-detect browser could be a game-changer. It makes managing different profiles easy while keeping your online activity private. It’s really about finding what aligns with your privacy goals!
I use Librewolf with uBlock Origin using lists that encompass over 2 million blocked domains. Additional privacy focused extensions include Decentraleyes, Privacy Badger and CanvasBlocker (set to maximum protection). Tab containers are used extensively.
On mobile, I use GrapheneOS so the only viable browser there is Vanadium which is perfect and purpose built for privacy and security, much like Librewolf.
For search engine, Startpage is great. Based in Europe (because US privacy laws are laughable at best) and it gets you Google results without Google ever knowing who you are.
This is the best privacy setup if you still want your websites to be usable and your connection decent, imo. If you want anything more than this, you will have to start looking at Tor and Tails.
I wanted nothing to do with Brave as soon as I saw that they shoved crypto ads into the new tab page, and heard that the owners sneakily added their own referral link whenever you click ads for BAT tokens or whatever cryptocurrency they made up. Cryptobrowsers are a dodgy bunch.
Vanadium is security hardened, but not a privacy browser in any way. You can’t even install uBlock Origin, which is obviously a gaping hole privacy-wise.
In this thread from January, a team member said “Vanadium fully intends to add substantial privacy features,” but explained it is a slow process for them to add considerations like that.
On GrapheneOS, the Librewolf equivalent would be Mull (a Firefox-based, privacy-hardened browser).
Those features (and others) are easily switched off. Granted though, Librewolf which you also pointed to comes ready to go out of the box, and requires very little (if any) tweaking.
I’ve found Qwant as a search engine interesting. Unlike many search engines, it’s not a meta-search engine, leveraging the Google or Bing backends (eg: DuckDuckgo and to some extent, Brave Search). That’s probably the best thing going for it. It’s European based (France), and claims to be privacy focused.
Seemed to work better for me, since I don’t really use the Mozilla features associated with having an account(dont have one). Just back up the bookmarks and the user.js once in a while, and good enough for me.
I don’t use Firefox so I never bothered to change the default.
