this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2023
628 points (92.0% liked)

Technology

59577 readers
4266 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] original_reader@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Unless browser fingerprinting is your concern, in which case the most generic, unmodified browser is best (e.g. Tor).

But that is a huge topic for another thread.

[–] finn_der_mensch@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Overall you‘re right but in which world is tor generic and unmodified 😂

[–] WallEx@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

It's not possible to identify you if you use the tor browser without changing the window size or any other settings, because the fingerprint is literally the same amongst everyone that uses it this way. So you kind of blend in with the masses, it's neither generic nor unmodified, I give you that :D

[–] netchami@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

The Tor browser is a modified version of Firefox, but you are not meant to modify the Tor Browser, in order for everyone using the Tor Browser to look the same and blend in. This is done for maximum privacy and anonymity.

[–] original_reader@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Simply the OS already makes that difficult, true. Nonetheless, it's one of your best bets.

For those who truly want to stay private, installing plugins on the Tor browser is obviously a no go. Changing any setting or even the window size should not be done. Seriously.

And I'd venture that Tor on phones might be the most homogenous, though that still isn't saying a lot, sadly. Plus, smartphones are a privacy nightmare regardless (tip of the iceberg).

In the end, fingerprinting makes true privacy very challenging. Great introduction to the topic.

And an advanced writeup with excellent resources for those who really want to get into the subject matter.

Edit: spelling