Firefox

Meta note : am not sure if this is on topic for this community, please tell me if it is not. I could not find rules, so I assume it's okay, but i'll remove it if its not.

So, after the recent Mozilla privacy drama, I saw multiple recommendations of alternative browsers, each one with their pros and cons. I was trying to get a better understanding of which one was good/bad for which reasons, and I thought i might share it here so people with more knowledge can correct my takes.

Here is what I could get so far, based mostly on Lemmy comments and Wikipedia pages. This is aimed at browser that share some of Firefox values (foss, independency, (maybe) privacy, etc), so I excluded Chrome, Edge, and others. I'm open to any feedback/infos/browser suggestions to get a more accurate summary !

Notes : Privacy is based on Firefox level, which I considered "bad" for the sake of the comparison. Browser family is the browser on which each is browser is based, mostly Chromium, Firefox or none. I first called it Engine and it was unclear. Features is to identify barebones browsers and how much risk there is to find websites not compatible with those browsers. Question mark is for when there is a debate or I could not find infos. Platforms is for the platforms on which the browser is available. To keep it tight, only one letter per platform : W for Windows, M for macOS, L for GNU/Linux, A for Android, I for iOS.

contributors : Blazing8215@fedia.io, CubitOom@infosec.pub, cabbage@piefed.social, null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com, Mwa@lemm.ee, dojan@lemmy.world, BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.world

[^browserfamily]: most browsers are fork of or rely on another browser. The two main "source" browsers are Chromium and Firefox, resulting here in three main categories : Chromium-based, Firefox-based and Independent. This is sometimes called the engine, though technically the engine is different (engines are Gecko (used by Firefox), Blink (used by Chromium), Webkit (used by Safari and Orion), and also Ladybird and Servo which are in development). [^braveprivacy]: they have a lot of optional data collecting, from their Privacy Policy [^bravecrypto]: from Brave's Wikipedia page. [^braveceo]: from his personal Wikipedia page. [^vivaldifoss]: some parts are open source, but the UI is proprietary [^vivaldiprivacy]: they collect data for statistics, from their Privacy Policy [^lwfeatures]: some websites may be blocked due to stricter privacy setups, according to LinuxSecurity's article cited on Wikipedia. [^lwsecurity]: some users seemed to fear that having a small team, Librewolf would be late on security patches, but their FAQ seems to say it's ok. [^wfprivacy]: from Waterfox's Wikipedia page, linking to Exodus report stating that android version of Waterfox uses same trackers as Firefox. [^torfeatures]: some websites might block tor network [^mullvadfeatures]: lemmy users said it is barebones and their FAQ says it has little features by design to prevent fingerprinting. [^lbprivacy]: could not find infos on their website or wikipedia page. Probably not that bad, but since it is in early development, it may evolve in better ways than other. [^lbdev]: from their github, considering gender neutral wording is politics and does not belong in ladybird. [^\orionai]: from the Kagi Wikipedia page and lemmy comments.

Edit 1 : added Vivaldi, Floorp and Ironfox, clarify 'Engine dependency' column, add 'Platforms' column, add bigot warning for ladybird.
Edit 2 : added Mwa@lemm.ee table (Tor, Ungoogled chromium, Cromite) and IceCat, updated info on Vivaldi
Edit 3 : add Orion Browser, corrects lines to group browser together by engine, added users whose infos I used via edits
Edit 4 : corrected Brave and Opera Privacy rating.
Edit 5 : removed Opera since both Privacy and FOSS would be bad. Updated Vivaldi Privacy rating.
Edit 6 : changing Engine category to Browser Family and adding explanation.

@mozillaofficial y @firefox . Te banqué que fueras más lento, que fueras más feo, que no funcionaras en la mitad de las páginas, que pusieras anuncios en mis marcadores, que mandaras telemetría, que tu botón de Pocket que solo hace UNA cosa funcionara la mitad de las veces, que te convirtieras en una compañía de anuncios, pero ya fue hermano. Este cambio en tus TOS es la gota que colmó el vaso de malas decisiones.

Ok with all the talk about #Mozilla #Firefox and their latest updates to their ToS, I want to remind everyone that #privacy is not convenient and if it's convenient is not private. Yes it sucks too much not to have the same browser in pc versus phone, however it that is what it takes, so be it. Also, as many people have rightfully expressed, us removing full support without voicing concerns with @mozillaofficial @firefox is shooting ourselves int he foot and removing the chances of forks like #librewolf #tor to keep working towards improvements.

If you still want to jump ship, the only thing left for me is to recommend @privacytests and their great job towards a better internet via education and tests. So go check them out! https://privacytests.org/

Thanks everyone for your active participation here. We knew this would have a lot of interest and so we’ve waited to dive into the conversation because we see some themes emerging that I’ll respond to broadly here. The main concerns I’m noting are around the license agreements we declare, our use of data for AI, and our Acceptable Use Policy. Below are a few clarifications to each of these areas.

What the title says, specifically I am wondering about floorp.

I've been working on switching from macOS to Linux. I tried moving my Firefox profile (actually Zen Browser but I don't think it makes a big difference) but it was very laggy when opening, and addons didn't work. So I'm just gonna do it the safe way: exporting my session with Tab Session Manager, places.sqlite file (which contains browsing history), bookmarks, addon data, and using syncing. I'm wondering how well copy and pasting the profile folder between OSes worked for other users.

Weiß jemand von den #iphone Cracks, was man einstellen muss, wenn normale Websites nicht geladen werden und dieser Fehler erscheint? Danke! (An den Schutzeinstellungen in @firefox liegt es nicht)

im willing to use OSM

edit: it shows Gulf of Mexico (gulf of america) for me

Next time you don't want to update your operating system to do the same things on the Internet you did 5 years ago, #Firefox is your friend.

@firefox

#ilovefs Thankyou for making my data secure, my life easier, my days colourful, my rabbit holes deeper,

@nextcloud @thunderbird
#paperlessngx
#homeassistant
#mupibox
@jellyfin
@moodeaudio
@ff3
@firefox
@Kodi
@dietpi
@signalapp
#scratch #python #opnsense #tailscale #hibiscus #solaranzeige

#Firefox we need to talk,
or #DevsOfMastodon what are your issues with Firefox?
I really like Firefox(#GUX, #GUI, workflows etc), and I've always agreed that we need an independent #browser alternative to #Chromium, but I didnt think it was this bad: https://youtu.be/mmjUlFIaNLE?t=136
Sure take that video with a grain of salt, but I think he has a point.
@firefox@lemmy.world @firefox@lemmy.ml I really hope @firefoxnightly can finally start catching up!

#Development #FediDevs #OpenSource #Gecko #LibreWolf #Vivaldi

Supposedly that is the path to my Firefox profile directory. But when I click "Open Directory", nothing happens.

When I access that file path, the directory (k45qdkms.default-release) does not exist.

I used to run benchmarks and Firefox for Android would always be slower. This matched my feeling of it, but after reinstalling this week I was surprised to see that Firefox is benching higher in both Speedometer and WebXPRT. Both of these benchmarks considerably heavier than things like Kraken that I used to test with.

-Would it be useful to update this from time to time (let's say every trimester)? If I did update it, I'd try to use it as project to learn some basic data visualization and it would hopefully improve with time. -Does this hold up on your device?

Warning! This may be collecting data for advertising. From the Privacy Policy:

We may use personal information to tailor and provide you with content and advertisements. We may provide you with these materials as permitted by applicable law.

Some of the ways we may market to you include email campaigns, custom audiences advertising, and “personalized advertising” or “targeted advertising,” including through cross-device tracking.

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#GlobalSwitchDay

✅ EASY STEPS

Browser → @firefox @torproject
(10 minutes for FF, then learn about Tor)

Google → @duckduckgo @StartpageSearch
(1 minute and you're free)

WhatsApp → @signalapp
(Start with family, then scale)

Gmail → @protonprivacy @Tutanota @posteo_en
(Start with the free plan, a full switch could take months, planning and a paid account, but it's worth)

Maps → @openstreetmap
(Maps work, but you have hundreds of less metadata for itineraries and shops-bars)

X → @Mastodon
(I supposed you already know that)

Don't procrastinate, reown your data and privacy.

I use Fennec F-Droid (This does apply to normal ff mobile). When I hold the space key of the onscreen keyboard to control the cursor in a website's input field it doesn't move character by character but word by word. Is there a flag in about:config that changes it to go character by character instead? Their implementation is buggy and painful for me and the sole reason for why I feel forced to use Brave 😭 pls help