Lynx Web Browser

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Short description

Lynx is a text-based web browser that runs without running javascript, images, or CSS by default. The default setting is near equivalent to strict settings in other browsers like Firefox except you would want to set the SET COOOKIES flag to false to minimize the usage of unnecessary cookies.

https://lynx.invisible-island.net/lynx_help/body.html#SET_COOKIES

Why I think this tool should be added

Blynx would be valuable for us to help out folks in the privacy community who are blind. At least for us to provide some basic configuration guidance along with Lynx. There could also be a setting that we suggest that combines with torsocks to give vision impaired users a sort of Tor-like experience.

Lynx provides a much more focused experience that encourages more effective use of time and in my personal experience, keeps my behavior more focused an minimal, which aligns well with a good toolkit of privacy practices. This would be an oddball tool but I think it is certainly valuable.

Lynx covers the following PG browser requirements.

  • :white_check_mark: Must be open-source software.
  • :x: Must support automatic updates. This shouldn’t be an issue for Lynx users since they can write a script or just update as they want.
  • :x: Must receive engine updates in 0-1 days from upstream release. Same as above.
  • :white_check_mark: Must be available on Linux, macOS, and Windows.
  • :warning: Any changes required to make the browser more privacy-respecting must not negatively impact user experience. Functional cookies generally impact script functionality which should not apply to these users. Must be verified
  • :white_check_mark: Must block third-party cookies by default.
  • :warning: Must support state partitioning to mitigate cross-site tracking. Not supported but we would need to verify this is a non-issue on Lynx.

Best Case:

  • :white_check_mark: Should include built-in content blocking functionality. Lynx (unlike Links) doesn’t support javascript and css by default, images and other content must be manually downloaded, and block lists exist for cookies.
  • :warning: Should support cookie compartmentalization (Ă  la Multi-Account Containers). Supports user sessions but I don’t believe you can have different cookie settings per session.
  • :x: :x: Should support Progressive Web Apps (PWAs). PWAs enable you to install certain websites as if they were native apps on your computer. This can have advantages over installing Electron-based apps because PWAs benefit from your browser’s regular security updates. Definitely not a Lynx feature to install PWAs.
  • :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark: Should not include add-on functionality (bloatware) that does not impact user privacy. Lynx is about as bloat free as anyone could ask for.
  • :white_check_mark: Should not collect telemetry by default. definitely not
  • :x: Should provide an open-source sync server implementation. no sync
  • :x: Should default to a private search engine. no default engine you just use one of the supported search sites

Outside of the considerations above, there’s also the unique fingerprinting that can come from using Lynx, but it won’t be your every day browser unless maybe you’re vision impaired.

Section on Privacy Guides

Desktop Web Browsers

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So it doesn’t respect the criteria

Accesibility is important, but we must safeguard security,and in 2025 no https is a bit embarassing (website you linked)

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Correct, but also some criteria in previous decisions have been ignored due to specific applications. Most security exploits that are patched generally happen through client code execution, which Lynx (not to be confused with its cousin Link that does run JS), does not execute. So, there is likely some digging that needs to happen in order to see if Lynx can be one of those exceptions being that it removes many paths being a text-only browser.

Blynx is just a community project that builds a few accessibility features on Lynx which is the browser I’m suggesting. Most of these documents are available in manual pages with the software anyways so it’s not like Lynx users even really use those sites.

Anyways, despite there being the update violation which I don’t think keeping Lynx updated is a big deal for most security models, I still decided to add this. There’s just so much that comes with not running client side scripting and otherwise we would just need to generally disable cookies.

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