I feel like there is no web browser with a sane default configuration that I can recommend to other people. All browsers are preconfigured in a way that harms the privacy of their users or include services that no one wants such as Pocket and BAT.
Here are my problems with some popular browsers.
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Mozilla Firefox: Pocket integration, no ad-blocking without extensions.
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Brave: Everything related to crypto. Also its start page is horrible.
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Chromium: No ad-blocking without extensions and soon Manifest v3 will cripple all content blockers.
Now, these suboptimal defaults wouldn’t be such a big problem if the configuration files were easy to backup and restore and respected the XDG base directory specification.
This list looks like:
Firefox: comes with different candy than I like but will get me the candy I want if I ask
Brave: has candy, but stares at me uncomfortably and asks me to lick everything slowly
Chromium: comes with candy I don’t like and I’m pretty sure is going to kill me
Brave is based on Chromium, so the candy doesn’t have so nice taste.
Just when I was getting used to car analogies, here’s candy analogies
Just use Librewolf. It’s a fork of Firefox, with Pocket disabled, Ublock Origin preinstalled, and privacy settings enabled by default.
I still like firefox. I configure it using a json file. Just load that file and the browser is configured for all users on the system.
No problem. My comment was more to add some info. Perhaps i formulated it a bit odd.
I like Firefox too and I use it. But OP talks about adblocking and disabled pocket by default, so this is why I commented this.
(Actually I don’t even use Librewolf, I have just heard of it) EDIT: I saw that OP says that configuration files are an issue, so your comment is okay.
How many people maintain LibreWolf? How closely does it track the upstream?
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Ad blocking shouldn’t be tied to the browser, anyway. ublock is superb, imagine if firefox devs should have to develop it along with the browser (that nowadays is a herculean task).
Anyway, extensions give user freedom to chose how they use their browser.
Pocket take 2 seconds to disable.
don’t expect browsers to block ads out of the box
What’s the problem with using uBlock on FF. Gets rids of ads, has ton of features to custom add filters and more.
Also, I kinda like Pocket Integration on FF. Found some interesting articles that way.
The problem with Pocket is: most of us don’t want it, and cannot get rid of it like you do with extension.
Well you can just remove the button by right-clicking on it. But if that’s not enough, Mozilla has a help page to completely disable it.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/disable-or-re-enable-pocket-for-firefox
Disabling it (even “completely”) is not the same as removing it. The code is still there. Mozilla don’t even provide a method to exclude it when building from source code.
idk what you want theb, disabling it is pretty much the same as completely removing it. It simply doesn’t do anything. Doesn’t send data no nothing
IMO that logic is really absurd. If you can disable it so that it doesn’t bother you, nor steal your data, then it’s completely fine. They are giving you the option to opt-out.
Pretty sure there was a flag to disable it.
In other news, emacs still didn’t ship my
init.elas part of the default configuration! LolJust install u block origin lmao.
And I’d have to do that manually for every computer on which I install the browser. I can’t just tell someone to install a browser and use it as is, there are always several additional steps required after install to have a decent experience. This is especially a problem for people who are not tech savvy.
Or just use their built in sync and sign in one time, and all your addons will be installed and enabled for you.
If your argument boils down to “none of the browsers are exactly pre-configured for me, one of the 7 billion not special people on the planet”, I’m not sure there’s a productive conversation to be had here.
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You can backup your profile folder. See here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles
Use NixOS, nix package manager or home manager, declaratively add all the extensions and config you want, boom same browser every time
People who are not tech savvy can handle installing a browser extension manually the one or two times they have to set one up
I didn’t know about the Manifest v3 thing, and I found this article. Sharing in case anyone else is out of the loop.
That is why forks like librewolf exist.
No browser will ever tick ALL your boxes. You pick one and make it work.
No browser will ever tick ALL your boxes.
Why not? Is it that hard to NOT include bloatware in your browser and respect XDG Base Directory? As for content blocking, the code is already there because extensions make use of it, just integrate it into the browser UI and use uBlock Origin’s block lists.
Sure. Then one of the project’s lead members will publicly donate to some homophobic group and that will have you second-guessing your browser of choice.
Is it that hard to NOT include bloatware in your browser
I mean obviously it is, yes. If you want to build a good browser, that takes resources. How else would you monetize it? God knows no one is paying directly for a web browser…
Mullvad Browser
What’s wrong with pocket integration?Nobody forces you to use it. Apart from that it stores user data e2e encrypted, mozilla has no access to your data (as opposed to chromes sync functionality). Imho, a browser should not block some content by default. But ad-blocking must be easy to enable/install. All of that’s the case in FF so I see no reason not to recommend it.
Yeah, Pocket does nothing unless you press the button.
And as for telemetry that’s publicly available on telemetry.mozilla.org if anyone wants to see what’s being sent. It’s very useful for Mozilla to see what and how features are used.
Mozilla is our last tiny hope for freedom really, in this Chrome/Blink world…
Not to mention they have a freaking Help page explaining how to remove it if you really don’t like it for some reason.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/disable-or-re-enable-pocket-for-firefox
On Android F-Droid app store there are some off-shoots of Firefox that are real good. Fennec comes with a bunch of the most popupar extensions already installed and none of that Pocket nonsense.
Why do people dislike pocket so much? I barely even know what it is, used it once to see what it was about and then forgot about it completely, it’s not exactly obstructive
data collection.
How does pocket collect data more than the browser itsself could though?
- It yet another step along the ever increasing march to enshitifaction where everything on the fucking internet wants to collect data about me.
- It’s utterly pointless and is ergo wasting system resources.
Nyxt includes a blocker, and has an appealing minimalistic interface, but I never tested.
Nyxt can’t load 9/10 sites without crashing, as it’s still using Webket instead of something Chromium based. For a better experience, try qutebrowser. It’s my daily driver now.
That’s just three browsers. There are more. You don’t have to use Pocket in Firefox. An extension is no better or worse than an integrated ad-blocker (moreover, Librewolf simply comes with uBlock Origin). I don’t see what’s the real issue here. There are many other versions of Firefox with enhanced privacy.
