What is this hardened Firefox I hear about? (lemmy.ca)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by someguy3@lemmy.ca to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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The one video I saw suggested running this betterfox.js file or some more elaborate ones. Is that really necessary?

Or are there just some settings that I should change?

(Already run ublock origin if that matters.)

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[-] glacier 34 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It is FireFox that has hidden settings (about:config) adjusted for privacy. It refers to using a js file such as betterfox or arkenfox, or a pre-hardened fork of FireFox (Librewolf on desktop or Mull Browser on Android). You can improve your privacy by using a hardened FireFox, however you may also encounter more issues with website compatibility. It is a trade-off, and is usually only recommended for advanced users.

[-] perviouslyiner@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

Sounds a bit like what Tor browser bundle does - they try to make all the browsers look the same to websites, so for example the website won't know your language preferences or screen size.

[-] someguy3@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago

only recommended for advanced users.

So you don't think it's necessary for privacy?

[-] glacier 9 points 1 year ago

For general use, no it is not necessary. But it depends on your threat model, or exactly how private you want to be.

I suggest looking at the pages on FireFox by Privacy Guides:

Desktop browser recommendations: https://www.privacyguides.org/en/desktop-browsers/#mullvad-leta

FireFox privacy 2021 update: https://blog.privacyguides.org/2021/12/01/firefox-privacy-2021-update/

this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2023

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