Almost all of my Linux devices have both chromium-browser and Firefox installed. Firefox is my default, but there are some apps out there that work a lot better in something chromium-based.
Haven’t used Ungoogled Chromium in a couple years, but I’ve seen some criticisms of it even compared to regular Chrome: https://qua3k.github.io/ungoogled/
Thank you for sharing this, I was unaware. I wonder if any of this has been addressed recently as the linked article is two years old (not demeaning its value, just wondering if the devs saw the article and decided to improve ungoogled-chromium).
Yeah, that’s why I pointed out that I haven’t used it in a couple years, I have no idea about the direction development took after that, so maybe some folks that work on the development of Chromium and its many forks can give us some insight. Personally, I just decided to stick to Firefox tweaked with Arkenfox as my main browser on desktop and I have Brave with all its annoyances turned off as a backup option
No one is going to develop exploits only for a browser with certain default security options disabled (especially these made at compile time using toolchain). Binary exploitation is hard, and extremely not worth the effort in this case.
It is really disingenuous to say “X is just a skin of Y” just because they share the same browser engine or are forked from the same browser. Like you say, there are a lot of changes.
It depends. Many addons have effects that can be tested for and fingerprinted, but it’s not always straight forward. There’s a way to detect any specific chrome extension, but doesn’t work on firefox because it uses unique extension ids per person.
With addons like CanvasBlocker, they generate random values for a bunch of apis like canvas. So each time you will look unique, but it changes every time so you’re not easily tracked. I’d assume it’s similar to what Brave does, but I haven’t looked into the details. Some stuff isn’t randomized by default, so they can get info like timezone and languages, but probably not enough to give you a unique identity.
So Chromium?
Just use Firefox, its the better browser anyways.
Almost all of my Linux devices have both chromium-browser and Firefox installed. Firefox is my default, but there are some apps out there that work a lot better in something chromium-based.
Ungoogled-chromium is a good substitute in that case
Haven’t used Ungoogled Chromium in a couple years, but I’ve seen some criticisms of it even compared to regular Chrome: https://qua3k.github.io/ungoogled/
Thank you for sharing this, I was unaware. I wonder if any of this has been addressed recently as the linked article is two years old (not demeaning its value, just wondering if the devs saw the article and decided to improve ungoogled-chromium).
They still disable CRLSets and have binaries built by “contributors” not in an automated fashion by the developer themselves.
Yeah, that’s why I pointed out that I haven’t used it in a couple years, I have no idea about the direction development took after that, so maybe some folks that work on the development of Chromium and its many forks can give us some insight. Personally, I just decided to stick to Firefox tweaked with Arkenfox as my main browser on desktop and I have Brave with all its annoyances turned off as a backup option
No one is going to develop exploits only for a browser with certain default security options disabled (especially these made at compile time using toolchain). Binary exploitation is hard, and extremely not worth the effort in this case.
Disabling CRLSets though is worrisome, and its binaries are built by potentially unknown third parties with compromised systems.
Brave might have started as a basic Chromium fork, but the various privacy/security features they added do make them standout now.
But they still contribute to google’s monopoly over web standards.
It is really disingenuous to say “X is just a skin of Y” just because they share the same browser engine or are forked from the same browser. Like you say, there are a lot of changes.
Aye Firefox gang 🦊🤘
I already use Firefox but brave is just better at fingerprinting protection
There’s CanvasBlocker for Firefox that can do fingerprint protection.
Arkenfox is also good at protection from naive fingerprinting
Adding add-on makes you more fingerprintable, not less.
It depends. Many addons have effects that can be tested for and fingerprinted, but it’s not always straight forward. There’s a way to detect any specific chrome extension, but doesn’t work on firefox because it uses unique extension ids per person.
With addons like CanvasBlocker, they generate random values for a bunch of apis like canvas. So each time you will look unique, but it changes every time so you’re not easily tracked. I’d assume it’s similar to what Brave does, but I haven’t looked into the details. Some stuff isn’t randomized by default, so they can get info like timezone and languages, but probably not enough to give you a unique identity.