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A few question from a noob


in reply to Username85920

For the unique fingerprint, using a lot of privacy apps /extensions makes you stand out more, because you're likely the only person to use that exact configuration. The best way to hide is by obfuscating the data and sending random garbage.
in reply to BestBouclettes

Obfuscating the data and sending random garbage. How do I do that ?
in reply to Username85920

Their website (coveryourtracks.eff.org/learn) do mention the concern you have; Blocking trackers means you are a user with a very specific privacy settings. I suppose it would be like going around with a full face mask; You are technically private, but you are uniquely identifiable unless someone else does that. I also get "Uniquely Identifiable" on my personalised browser, but nothing like it when I try it out on newly installed Mullvad browser with no changes.

Not that I know much about how Tor traffic is identified, but Tor bridges seems like a potential solution? I would dig into that a bit more.

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to [object Object]

I did not tinker a lot with LibreWolf, it only has protonpass and ublock origin (it came with it).

I did not change anything on Vanadium but I understand Vanadium is security over privacy.

Is there really a way to avoid both trackers and fingerprinting ? I'll look into mullvad to see how it fares.

in reply to Username85920

Regarding Incogni, this video explains them pretty well

in reply to MagnificentSteiner

Are they trustworthy?

I tend to ignore everything that advertises itself.

in reply to LemmyKnowsBest

The content creator? I don't know anything about him. The video stands on it's own merits though. It seems well researched and quite balanced.
in reply to MagnificentSteiner

With no expertise on the topic, but having watched a few of his videos, he seems like a trustworthy guy. He often does read through of company policy and terms and service agreements to look at privacy infractions. He also prides himself on no sponsorships.
in reply to Username85920

NoScript will improve your privacy by a lot, and will make webpages load faster, since it stops stylish and tracker-ridden JS. If a webpage breaks, you can flick a few buttons to temporarily allow JS (or permanently if you'll be visiting that site a lot).

Tor over VPN is a fine solution if you want to hide it from your ISP, but I don't think you should install extra stuff on TailsOS. Consider using Tor Browser + UblockOrigin on your own PC over a VPN, it's pretty much the same thing if you'll just be browsing online.

Oh-- and one important thing to remember: Don't expend more effort than necessary for your own threat model. Consider the extent of your privacy needs and act accordingly, going overboard will only leave you tired for not much in return.

P.S.: mander.xyz has a Tor-based onion frontpage ;)

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to glint

Tails is probably an overkill for my threat model.

What I want is pretty simple, be able to reboot any computer (ex: work computer) on my USB live system and be able to access my files, my emails... Instead of having to connect to my proton account without VPN on a normal browser on Microsoft.

So I guess I only need an encrypted live system with any distro. Tails seemed to be the solution because it only writes to ram and purge ram before shutting down. I don't know if it's a nice to have or a must.

in reply to Username85920

What I want is pretty simple, be able to reboot any computer (ex: work computer) on my USB live system and be able to access my files, my emails


Tails with persistent storage is absolutely a good solution for this specific usecase. It's designed for it and provides a free and secure encrypted proxy solution (Tor). On top of that, your internet activity will likely help the activists who really need Tor by "mixing" your traffic with theirs.

Tails has thunderbird installed by default, you can connect it to your email account (but do take note that proton only seems to allow 3rd party client integration if you install their bridge app thingy)

If it is your own computer, in your home network, just install the necessary apps on any old distro. Doesn't matter

I don't know if it's a nice to have or a must.


Personally, I'd say nice to have, but it's not the end of the world if you decide to use something else

This entry was edited (1 month ago)
in reply to glint

Can't you just use Ublock with advanced mode on and have the same thing as NoScript?
in reply to Imaginary_Stand4909

Afaik, UbO will disable JS for entire tabs at a time.

With noscript you can allow the bare minimum number of servers on a given tab/webpage access to load JS, and with a little practice you'll begin to notice the common ad/tracker domains that seem to want some JS injected in just about every site you visit.

in reply to Username85920

I've heard fingerprinting tests are all sus. Don't put too much stock into them.

Best to do the clean yourself. A tip is to look through your gmail for email with "welcome" "confirmation" in the subject line. These will be accounts you signed up to with gmail. You can also google you email address and look through your password manager or Chrome for saved passwords. The really good news is unused accounts become less valuable to databrokers as the data gets out of date.

For Tails, use a Bridge to hide your Tor usage from your ISP.

in reply to Username85920

in reply to N.E.P.T.R

Thanks a lot for the detailed answer.

My goal is pretty simple : I don't want to give my data with big tech and gov for ideological reason more than for security but I don't want to use tools that makes me stand out like a sore thumb.

Mullvad has been recommended twice, I'll have a look and see if it fits my need.

in reply to N.E.P.T.R

@N.E.P.T.R @Username85920
by default TOR browser did not pass the fingerprint test Your browser has a non-unique fingerprint .

Definitely need to change some settings in the browser , I'll try

in reply to Anomaly

They is the right result, non-unique fingerprint is what you want with Tor Browser.
in reply to N.E.P.T.R

Creepjs is not a valid metric for fingerprinting protection.
in reply to Voxel

It still gives metrics. And yes, Creepjs is not very useful against randomized values, though I noted it still because Brave fails (resulting in a persistent fingerprint) whereas Cromite succeeded to fool Creepjs. Both have many methods of fingerprinting protection.

Checking the fingerprinting protections of Mullvad and Tor is better done with TorZillaPrint test page by Arkenfox. It is optimized to tell you whether you blend in correctly with RFP normalized values.

This entry was edited (3 weeks ago)
in reply to N.E.P.T.R

The Brave browser has much better blocking capabilities with the goal of offering all of the uBlock Origins features, while Cromite has an ABP integration which has weaker and less support for advanced filterlists. The default filterlists selection is also quite questionable. A blocked script can no longer track you.

Brave's fingerprinting protection measures are technically speaking superior than Cromite, the only reason that CreepJS can't be fooled by it all the time (I've done my own tests and it fails sometimes) is that it has specifically been designed to adapt to its protection mechanisms, which hasn't been done for Cromite.

You can also harden Brave to increase its level of protection:

privacyguides.org/en/desktop-b…

privacyguides.org/en/mobile-br…

This entry was edited (3 weeks ago)
in reply to Username85920

in reply to TiredTiger

Thank you ! It's way more clear now.

Hardened browsers prioritize security over privacy right ? Vanadium is that kind of browser ?

This entry was edited (4 weeks ago)
in reply to Username85920

"Browser hardening" is a somewhat nebulous term; I've seen it used for both privacy and security interchangeably. I continue to hear that Gecko-based browsers (i.e. Firefox and its forks) are less secure, but I do not know exactly how that plays out in the real world. Security and privacy are sometimes at odds, and your threat model should help you choose which to prioritize and when. If you don't know how to weigh them, you may need to refine your threat model.

Vanadium is a hardened browser, yes. I don't have personal experience with it so I can't make any recommendations on its settings.

in reply to TiredTiger

If you're looking for something to use with actual accounts (like banking), use hardened Firefox (with arkenfox) or a hardened chromium browser. Neither Mullvad Browser nor LibreWolf (and especially NOT Tor) are designed for that use case.


I wonder if my one bank doesn't like Librewolf. I logged in no issue on Ungoogled Chromium, but got a "security warning" on LW. Meanwhile Discover doesn't give a fuck and works when it wants to on either (read: never). Paypal worked fine on LW. I do use a Banking container on LW and turn off VPN, but banks are making it harder to go no app...

This entry was edited (4 weeks ago)
in reply to Imaginary_Stand4909

I honestly don't even know what would trigger that, unless that bank just really hates you using any gecko-based browser.

I generally despise the push for separate apps for everything anyway, but the banking ones are among the worst since so many of them are tied into Google Play. If my bank were to disable its website and only function with an app that required Google Play certification, I'd change banks. I'd be tempted to go old school and do banking in person, but who knows what kind of security cameras they have in banks now.

in reply to TiredTiger

This entry was edited (3 weeks ago)
in reply to ken

I think the main difference is that MB is geared for every user to look the same, whereas with LW every user is presumably unique, but not persistent between sessions.

I haven't heard of Konform, so I'll have to look into it. Thanks!

in reply to Username85920

This entry was edited (4 weeks ago)
in reply to BladeFederation

Thank you very much for the detailed reply.

Multiple browsers seems to be the solution seeing the multiple replies. New discipline though.

in reply to Username85920

Make your main browser secure and private and use tor/mullvad for anonymity.
in reply to Zoma

Don't forget to mention that Mullvad Browser is supposed to be used with a VPN to provide full protection

Source: Direct conversation with a MB developer

in reply to Username85920

This entry was edited (4 weeks ago)
in reply to Username85920

LibreWolf doesn't work to give you a non-unique fingerprint. Use Mullvad Browser for that (without changing anything other than the safety level).

Don't use a VPN with Tails. You could try something like github.com/PJ-Singh-001/Cubic to roll your own custom Ubuntu ISO, or you can just install another Linux distro on it which is what I recommend. Don't forget to enable disk encryption because you can't reliably wipe data from flash storage.

in reply to bootleg

LibreWolf doesn’t work to give you a non-unique fingerprint. Use Mullvad Browser for that (without changing anything other than the safety level).


Konform Browser also provides stronger protection against fingerprinting compared to vanilla FF or LW. Similarly (and in no small part thanks) to Tor Browser and Mullvad Browser.

Identification via enumeration and rendering differences of fonts is a major factor that's often overlooked. Those three browsers bundle and enforce the same fonts and fontconfig to make that less reliable as fingerprinting method.

This entry was edited (3 weeks ago)
in reply to Username85920

coveryourtracks.eff.org/

Is very inaccurate and misleading. It is a shame that EFF is still promoting it; I would recommend looking up the videos from Techlore and PrivacyGuides about fingerprinting; they explain it very well without any misleading or highly inaccurate information. You can find them on YouTube and PeerTube.

Regarding cleaning up your stuff, in what jurisdiction do you live in? Under the EU you can make use of your rights as seen in the GDPR. Noyb.eu is a good resource for learning how to excersise your rights as an EU citizen.

Tails is by design not made to be used with a VPN service of any kind, if you want to hide your Tor usage, use the built-in Bridges instead.

If you need further advice, feel free to contact me, I would love to point you into the right direction rather than leaving you in the dark.

This entry was edited (3 weeks ago)