Privacy Guides don’t recommend to harden Firefox by tweaking some features in the about:config settings.
So, should it be avoided ?
IIRC arkenfox does the same?
He may be remembering back in the PTIO days, many settings were recommended to be changed manually. Arkenfox got added only after that team transitioned to PG.
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Could you tell a beginner like me what “IIRC” and “PTIO days” mean? Thanks,
PTIO is PrivacyTools, which was the predecessor to Privacy Guides.
Using Arkenfox, which changes settings in about:config, is fine, but I wouldn’t recommend changing them manually from the about:config change. It’s a nightmare to keep track of what changes you’ve made, and since they are feature flags, they can be removed at any time.
Back then when Discord wasn’t a thing that sort of centralized the internet chat, you load up your favorite chat client, usually mIRC and talk to random people in your favorite chat room that is hosted on separate internet sites scattered all over the web.
People are lazy then and used acronyms of commonly used english phrases. I remember that we actually had internet etiquette and you say afk (for Away From Keyboard) when you temporarily leave your pc behind. These days people are on their gadget pretty much 24/7.
Does the manually tweaking of abt:config settings on Firefox make the browser’s fingerprint more unique ?
depending on what option you change, it can.
So, does Firefox offer an option to block the fingerprinting capture ouside of the abt:config features ?
No, other settings can also easily change your fingerprint. If you are worried about fingerprinting, I would really recommend going with Mullvad Browser (rather than hardening Firefox manually) or Brave. I used Firefox + Arkenfox for a long time, but it’s almost entirely redundant at this point in my opinion.
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I just find Mullvad’s LetterBoxing function a bit annoying…
You can disable that if you really want to, though it will make you more fingerprintable. You can use Mullvad browser in windowed mode to avoid seeing it. Even with letterboxing disabled, Mullvad Browser is still probably better than Arkenfox.
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doesnt mullvad use arkenfox as it’s base layer like tor browser anywya. Shouldn;t matter alot since even LIbrewolf would fit the bill.
I’ve used to clear my browsers (Firefox ESR and Brave) with Bleachbit. But, the version 4.4.2 of Bleachbit (available in the Debian stable repo), doesn’t support the Mullvad browser. Can the latter delete all its data itself ?
That may be true (I don’t know) but Mullvad browser is based on Tor which has it’s own changes to mitigate fingerprinting beyond Firefox’s anti-fingerprinting features or Arkenfox.
I allow myself a little disgression : I’ve ever seen some recommendations in favor of tweaking abt:config Firefox settings on a page of the CyberInsider site.
What do you can think of this site and its advice ?