The Best Web Browsers for Privacy
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Published 2023-06-21
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#privacy #linux #webbrowser
00:00 Intro
00:37 Sponsor: Proton Mail, the private and encrypted email service
01:51 What's Browser Privacy
03:03 Google Chrome
05:14 Mozilla Firefox & LibreWolf
07:11 Brave
09:14 Tor Browser
10:51 Microsoft Edge
11:57 Opera
12:56 Vivaldi
14:07 What should you use?
15:05 Sponsor: Get a PC that was made to run Linux
16:02 Support the channel
So, Chrome is THE most used browser in the world, on mobile, and on desktop. Out of the box, it doesn't have an ad blocker, or a tracker blocker enabled. To use that browser to the fullest, you'll also need to use a Google Account, and thus everything you do in your browser will be collected unless you specifically disable it.
You can disable a lot of things in your Google account and the web browser settings, but you'll need to download extensions to block the most invasive trackers and limit fingerprinting. Chrome is also not open source.
On Privacy tests.org, we can also see that Chrome has weak fingerprinting resistance.
Firefox has a good reputation for privacy, but it's not the best choice either. By default, it collects telemetry data, including how many tabs you have open, how many windows, how many webpages you visit, the number and type of extensions, duration of your browsing sessions, and some technical data on your OS, the version of the browser, the language, and your IP address in their server logs. Firefox can also use this data to recommend extensions to you.
In terms of protections, Firefox doesn't block tracking scripts or pixels but it does block social media trackers, cross site cookies, cryptominers, plus all tracking when you're in incognito mode. Firefox is open source, so you can be reasonably sure that it doesn't collect more than what it tells you.
If you like Firefox but you don't want the telemetry, and you want improved fingerprinting protection, then there's Librewolf.
Brave offers a lot of what you'd be able to do in another browser with extensions, but it does so out of the box. They call them "shields", and they block ads, trackers, fingerprinters, and cross site cookies by default. They also auto redirect GOogle's AMP pages to the "real" website, and they redirect tracking URLs so you're not even visiting the tracking domain at all.
The ultimate private browser is probably Tor Browser, but it won't be for everyone. Tor Browser blocks everything that the website might want to learn about you, so there's no tracking at all, and no fingerprinting, but ads aren't blocked.
Edge is based on CHromium, the base for CHrome, but they remove everything Google related from it, to mostly replace it with Microsoft related things, like a Microsoft account.
Edge, by default, has an opt-out for telemetry. It will block trackers from third party sites, and some ad trackers as well. It also collects "required" diagnostic data that can't opt out of, and this data is used to personalize ads from microsoft. If you use a microsoft account, you'll also give MS a bunch of data in the process, including device information, usage data, browsing activity, bookmarks and more.
Opera is yet another chromium based browser, which gets the worst results on privacytests.org. It has a unique fingerprint, and doesn't block tracking scripts, or pixels, it doesn't resist fingerprinting, it doesn't remove tracking parameters, and it also doesn't block the major tracking cookies.
It doesn't send "do not track" signals by default either. Their privacy policy also states that they might share personal data with third parties, which can be worrying, as Opera has been bought by a chinese consortium in 2016.
Vivaldi is also a chromium based browser. At first start, it will ask you what you want to block.
Vivaldi doesn't collect any data, browsing history or anything else, even if you use a Vivaldi account, because everything is encrypted in th
All Comments (21)
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Try out Proton Mail, the secure email that protects your privacy: proton.me/mail/TheLinuxEXP
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There's one more convoluted argument for firefox. That's a resistance to google's monopoly. Since all browsers are using blink and v8, supporting firefox prevents google from controlling the internet entirely, they still have to discuss adding new features and standards with mozilla.
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I'm using Firefox, as it's pretty main-stream, non-chromium-based and FOSS. I don't mind a little bit of data getting out (what Firefox seems to collect isn't enough to worry me). Also, I like Firefox because its UI is nice and possibly also because it's the first non-IE browser I encountered.
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librewolf gang was here
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Also to note that Firefox has "Multi-Account Containers" extension with whom users can separate their browsing data by topics. Very efficient to isolate social medias from other topics for example. It makes lot of sense while browsing today's web.
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A note for firefox users: by default the url bar doubles as a search bar, even if you also have a dedicated search bar enabled. This also automatically sends everything you type in the url bar to your default search engine even before you press enter. You can disable this behavior by disabling keyword.enabled in your about config page.
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my pick is librewolf, its literally firefox but configured out of the box for privacy. Vivaldi is fine but its built-in adblocker is not as good as Brave. If you guys like strong built-in adblock out of the box, its LibreWolf and Brave. LibreWolf edge out a bit more due to not breaking sites as often as brave on aggressive setting, but will break Twitch. Tor is overkill
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Thanks for checking us out! 😊
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If you aren't worried about anonymous telemetry or ads, and you just don't want Google and Facebook tracking you around the web - then Firefox is the best browser because they have "containers": you use one container for Facebook, one for Google and one more for everything else - containers are like incognito mode that does not share cookies with other sessions, but you can stay logged in to Facebook and continue using your extensions.
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Brave is the GOAT for me. It just combines all aspects a user might ever need. Adblock? check, Privacy respecting? check (fun fact you can actually tweak brave to send absolutely zero telemetry to its servers) Customisation? check, Chromium based and vast library of extensions? check, Simplicity for older and non-technical people? check. Productive, Clean and customizable new-tab page? check Like literally everything and anything you could ever ask for. you could ever ask for.
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I have been using Brave Browser for like 3-4 years and never regretted making a shift from chrome. It also has Tor inside so it's super useful. 🦁
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Firefox is a balance for me, it does not block everything and hopefully not breaking the website, and block some level of trackers. At least I don't feel to have an AI that keeps monitoring me as Microsoft Edge.
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i have used brave for a few years and i love it, they just added vertical tabs last month that allow you to have the tabs in a sidebar, it expands when you hover making it really fast to switch tabs and you can have more tabs open without any going off screen. plus i haven't seen an ad in years
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Using Tor all the time is pretty impossible for multiple reasons — speed, captchas, and getting blocked. Basically, it should be used for things that are specifically made to be accessed by Tor, where and when you need almost-absolute privacy.
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I think anyone using Firefox for privacy reasons would know how to turn off or adjust things to make it more private, as opposed to Chrome and Edge which don't let you make those changes.
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I love your sponsor segments. They are actually useful to me and even though I already have proton, I'm still learning new stuff about them. Maybe you could try and get an entire sponsored video for proton mail and do a deep dive into all its features and customization options? either way keep up the great work!!
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A note about whether or not to trust Vivaldi. They are based in Norway, which has some of the strictest data privacy laws in the world. So I think you can trust them.
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Hi Nick, it would be interesting if you made a video about browsers performance and battery life on laptops on Linux and even on Windows. Awesome channel, keep it up!
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Chromium-based browsers are a no-go for me, so Firefox kinda wins by default. Librewolf looks interesting but if you configure firefox then it's mostly redundant, and tor isn't the best for all general purpose browsing.
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Hey, Nick! First-time commenter, but I've been watching your videos for a while now, and they have been my primary source for staying up to date with and learning more about open-source world as I dive deeper into Linux. So, thanks for the amazing videos. :) Your sponsor at the beginning of the video got me wondering: is an episode comparing email services vis-à-vis privacy in the cards at all?
