On Tue, 2015-05-19 15:20:51 -0700, [email protected] wrote: > > Essential browser extensions > -------------------------------------------------------- > > Your web browser is not your friend: it allows your behavior to be > tracked as you browse the web, often leaks personal information, and > is a festering sore of endless security problems. > > This is not by accident, but by design. Despite their marketing, the > browser companies care more about making advertisers happy than your > privacy or security. > > For example, there was a huge debate in the 1990s [1] about the > privacy implications of third-party cookies, which is why the official > cookie technical specification required [2] that these type of > "surveillance" cookies be disabled by default. Guess what? Nearly all > browsers ignored this requirement under pressure from ad companies > [3]. Fast-forward to 2010: after a Mozilla engineer disabled > third-party cookies by default, advertisers became rabid and > "coincidentally" Mozilla executives ordered the change reversed > immediately [4]. After that, the browser companies quietly issued a > new cookie standard which allowed third-party cookies to be enabled by > default. > > The cookie debacle is just one example. If any of the browser > companies gave two shits about your security or privacy, then they > would kill off foreign http-referers, Flash, Java applets, and > third-party cookies (among many other obvious changes). Google has a > very good browser security team, but their hands are tied by policy > decisions that keep advertisers happy. > > So, basically, we are fucked. Despite that, you can make your web > browser experience a little bit better and more secure by following > Riseup's handy guide to essential web browser extensions: > > https://help.riseup.net/en/better-web-browsing > > [1] Shah, R. C., & Kesan, J. P. (2009). Recipes for cookies: how > institutions shape communication technologies. > http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=565041 > > [2] https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2109 > > [3] Bruner, R. E. (1997, May). Advertisers win one in debate over > "cookies": Netscape move may settle sites concern over controversial > targeting tool > http://adage.com/article/news/advertisers-win-debate-cookies/405/ > > [4] Soghoian, C. (2010). Thoughts on Mozilla and Privacy. > http://paranoia.dubfire.net/2010/12/thoughts-on-mozilla-and-privacy.html
The sysadmins of riseup.net are Debian developers. I know some of them. Another good guide is at: https://help.riseup.net/en/security/message-security/openpgp/best-practices which was written by Daniel Kahn Gillmor, a Debian developer. _______________________________________________ Free-software-melb mailing list [email protected] http://lists.softwarefreedom.com.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/free-software-melb Free Software Melbourne home page: http://www.freesoftware.asn.au/melb/
