Why I Stopped Hardening Firefox.

I (and likely many others) no longer *need* to harden Firefox for privacy and security—here's why, and how much the space has developed thanks to better browser options, in addition to better Firefox hardening options! (Arkenfox!)

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00:00 Hardening isn't required anymore!
00:34 Reason 1 - Better Browsers
04:14 Reason 2 - Better Hardening Options
05:20 Why This Is *GREAT*
#firefox #techlore #browser

[techlore]

Do you still manually harden your own Firefox? Do you use a more automated method like Arkenfox? Or do you just use a browser that doesn't require it? Let me know down below!

[lastnamefirstname]

I'll continue to use FX. I want to support the project so that Chrome doesn't have 100% market share.

[jammies]

Firefox is still great to support a browser with some real privacy potential while still having customizability and some conveniences like extensions

Of course competition as well, makes everyone better

[MrDowntemp]

Totally agree. I stopped using arkenfox and moved to LibreWolf. So nice to have most of the work done for me and my low threat model.

[OcteractSG]

I couldn’t get temporary containers to work in the Mullvad Browser. The security levels and NoScript stuff make it weird to work with. Also, they missed ECH and a handful of other things.

That said, LibreWolf, which is what I just switched to from manually hardened Firefox, is no angel either. Temporary Containers works, but they missed things in the about config too. This means combing through the options of interest and determining which ones would be visible to websites. Those options that websites can detect should be left alone to mitigate fingerprinting, while other options can be toggled for privacy/security/preference.

[gmsipe]

Apparently, the Mullvad browser is offered only as a tar and not in any repo, (official) flatpak or snap. This is a big issue for me as it will not update automatically via the normal means and not integrate with the system properly. Frankly, I was surprised by this.

[TILR]

The only thing I like about using a hardened Firefox with stuff like Arkenfox is I don’t have to think about updates, I don’t have to wait for that extra step of the fork updating with the latest Firefox update.

I just wish there was a hardening option like Arkenfox for Chrome or even base Chromium

[Bless]

Firefox with Strict and custom settings, Ublock Origin, and NoScript is my way to go
Deletes cookies on exit except for websites I choose to stay logged in (understanding this heightens the chance of login session stealing)

I want a browser on both Windows/Linux AND Android that syncs my bookmarks as a convenience and anti-phishing measure and Firefox has been great for that

Librewolf not having auto-update and not officially on Android?
Mullvad messing with window size? (i don't need *that* level of fingerprint resistance)

Firefox is still damn fast on YouTube for me and my websites don't break at all (other than VPN, Ublock, NoScript shenanigans)

still have Mullvad and Tor in the small chances I'd want that bit more anonymity in ephemeral searches

[hellomine]

Forks of any software usually has delays (of some days ) for security updates. Same applies for Firefox forks

[dight_]

i love how the same guy who moved to official roms for faster security patches or whatever but uses browsers that are literally just firefox with sensible defaults. by using a fork of firefox you're getting patches at least somewhat later than if you were just using a build of firefox. you could just transfer your profile across all your computers to avoid configuration while keeping literally all of your data

[reefhound]

It's still good to understand the settings. This blind trust that "the browser takes care of it" is what let to the whole loss of privacy in the first place.

[kj_sh]

0:01 my bet, the existence of Mullvad Browser and other alternative "pre-hardened" Firefox forks that lowers the barrier of entry for most people who care about their privacy and also for people who are fatigued with constantly having to harden Firefox manually 😅 (such as myself).

[ruanriling]

People did the hardening tweaks without any idea what they're doing or if it's really needed and then they asked why this broke why that broke lol

[fcolecumberri]

Is there a real difference between mullvad and librewolf? I would love to see a video about that because in the current state those looks like 2 drops of water.

[DaRootBeer]

Honestly I've never understood people who make hardening Firefox to be this deep integrated thing. At least in my opinion, if someone did one pass throught the Privacy and Security settings tab to set Tracking Protection to strict, untick the data collection stuff, ext, and installed Ublock, then that's pretty much 90% of what needs to be done taken care of. While I have no problem with something like Mullvad, what am I really getting privacy wise that I'm not already getting now (beyond some indirect fingerprinting protection)? Plus reading through some of the comments on this video, it seems like Arkenfox and Mullvad don't have auto updates (correct me if I'm wrong here) but if so then that seems like a pretty big security concern and a massive inconvinience to have to manually update.

[Zippy_Zolton]

I will continue to use hardened Firefox Nightly for as long as my data is intact because I already did it and don't need to do it again, whenever I switch to a brand new system or set up someone else's I will install Mercury

[xade]

native tab grouping (panorama) and webGL/webGPU performance are still missing for me on firefox :(

[donpeer]

Where'd your "why i almost exclusively use brave" video go?
Also, what would happen if you used ArkenFox on Brave or Mullvad? Would it harden them even better?

[Noam_Kinrot]

Hardening is one issue -- limiting supercookies is another --- which I have not seen you address. My Q is, if in your opinion, using agenda-based separate profiles (home//work for instance) may help in doing so, also if you know if there is a difference in "degrees of separation between Brave profiles vs. Firefox manager?

[pantarei.]

The big minus for Librewolf is that it never opens maximized - I can't see any point for that. So if I use Librewolf I have no other choice like disable "strict privacy setting.