Badwolf is a minimalist and privacy-oriented web browser based on WebKitGTK.
BadWolf makes no unsolicited requests at all.
BadWolf is a pretty decent browser worth looking into. A couple of neat features worth noting is that BadWolf has a JavaScript switch and an image viewer switch, which is useful for daily tasks.
+This article was created on 6/19/2021
-This article was lasted edited on 6/19/2021
-If you want to contribute to this website, you can always make a pull request.
+ This article was created on 6/19/2021 +If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg.
All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
Badwolf ist ein minimalistischer und auf Privatsphäre ausgelegter Webbrowser, basierend auf WebKitGTK.
BadWolf stellt nicht ungefragt Verbindungen her.
BadWolf ist ein guter Browser und definitiv einen Blick wert. Die nützlichsten Funktionen sind der integrierte JavaScript-Schalter und die Option, Bilder standardmässig nicht anzuzeigen.
+Dieser Artikel wurde am 19.6.2022 erstellt
-Dieser Artikel wurde zuletzt am 12.2.2022 bearbeitet
-- If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us - at the git repo on - Codeberg. -
-All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
-
-
+ Dieser Artikel wurde am 19.6.2022 erstellt
+ If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg.
+All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
+
- Bing is yet another spyware search engine that collects your - information and sells it to advertisers. It's strongly recommended - that you do not use Bing. -
-- At some point Bing had a privacy policy, but Microsoft doesn't seem to - be hosting it anymore. So, this article will look at the Microsoft - Privacy Statement[1] to help us - understand what information Bing collects. Similarly to the privacy - policies of Google and Apple, the Microsoft privacy statement eclipses - the entire spyware platform and does not help you understand in great - detail what kind of information one single program could be - collecting. (although this policy is more specific) -
- +Bing is yet another spyware search engine that collects your information and sells it to advertisers. It's strongly recommended that you do not use Bing.
+At some point Bing had a privacy policy, but Microsoft doesn't seem to be hosting it anymore. So, this article will look at the Microsoft Privacy Statement[1] to help us understand what information Bing collects. Similarly to the privacy policies of Google and Apple, the Microsoft privacy statement eclipses the entire spyware platform and does not help you understand in great detail what kind of information one single program could be collecting. (although this policy is more specific)
- From the Microsoft Privacy Statement[1]: -
- -- - "Microsoft collects data from you, through our interactions with you - and through our products for a variety of purposes described - below. [...] You provide some of this data directly, such as when - you [...] submit a search query to Bing" - -
- -- Later in the Interactions -> Device and usage data section of this - statement, it is clarified again that Microsoft collects your: - "Browse History. Data about the web pages you visit.", as well - as your: - "Images. Images and related information, such as picture metadata. - For example, we collect the image you provide when you use a Bing - image-enabled service." -
- -- Microsoft claims to store this information for an unlimited amount of - time, but it claims that it will eventually anonymize this information - in a process that takes 18 months to complete. -
- - -- - "Has Microsoft adopted and announced a specific retention period for - a certain data type? For example, for Bing search queries, we - de-identify stored queries by removing the entirety of the IP - address after 6 months, and cookie IDs and other cross-session - identifiers after 18 months. " - -
- +From the Microsoft Privacy Statement[1]:
+"Microsoft collects data from you, through our interactions with you and through our products for a variety of purposes described below. [...] You provide some of this data directly, such as when you [...] submit a search query to Bing"
+Later in the Interactions -> Device and usage data section of this statement, it is clarified again that Microsoft collects your: "Browse History. Data about the web pages you visit.", as well as your: "Images. Images and related information, such as picture metadata. For example, we collect the image you provide when you use a Bing image-enabled service."
+Microsoft claims to store this information for an unlimited amount of time, but it claims that it will eventually anonymize this information in a process that takes 18 months to complete.
+"Has Microsoft adopted and announced a specific retention period for a certain data type? For example, for Bing search queries, we de-identify stored queries by removing the entirety of the IP address after 6 months, and cookie IDs and other cross-session identifiers after 18 months."
- From the Microsoft Privacy Statement[1]: -
-- - "Microsoft may use data we collect to select and deliver some of the - ads you see on Microsoft web properties, such as Microsoft.com, MSN - and Bing." - -
-- So since your search history is part of the "data we collect", the - natural conclusion is that, your search queries are being used to - profile you for advertising. And of course, this is confirmed in this - section: -
- -- - "The ads that you see may be selected based on data we process about - you, such as your interests and favorites, your location, your - transactions, how you use our products, - - your search queries - - , or the content you view. For example, if you view content on MSN - about automobiles, we may show advertisements about cars; if you - search “pizza places in Seattle” on Bing, you may see advertisements - in your search results for restaurants in Seattle." - -
- +From the Microsoft Privacy Statement[1]:
+"Microsoft may use data we collect to select and deliver some of the ads you see on Microsoft web properties, such as Microsoft.com, MSN and Bing."
+So since your search history is part of the "data we collect", the natural conclusion is that, your search queries are being used to profile you for advertising. And of course, this is confirmed in this section:
+"The ads that you see may be selected based on data we process about you, such as your interests and favorites, your location, your transactions, how you use our products, your search queries, or the content you view. For example, if you view content on MSN about automobiles, we may show advertisements about cars; if you search “pizza places in Seattle” on Bing, you may see advertisements in your search results for restaurants in Seattle."
- From the Microsoft Privacy Statement[1]: -
-- - "We may share data we collect with third parties, such as Oath, - AppNexus, or Facebook (see below), so that the ads you see in our - products, their products, or other sites and apps serviced by these - partners are more relevant and valuable to you. " - -
+From the Microsoft Privacy Statement[1]:
+"We may share data we collect with third parties, such as Oath, AppNexus, or Facebook (see below), so that the ads you see in our products, their products, or other sites and apps serviced by these partners are more relevant and valuable to you."
- If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us - at the git repo on - Codeberg. -
-- All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be - accepted. -
- -
-
-
+ If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg.
+All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
+
Bleachbit is Tool to Clean Your System and Free Disk Space. Also, BleachBit can Shred Files.
BleachBit makes no unsolicited requests at all.
+This article was created on 5/1/2022
-If you want to contribute to this website, you can always make a pull request.
+ This article was created on 5/1/2022 +If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg.
All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
+ Brave Browser is a Chromium fork with many interesting features not found elsewhere, such as built-in Adblock and other extensions, fingerprinting protection, a cleaner Preferences menu compared to other Chrome forks, and the (opt-in) ability to automatically support (pay) the websites you visit. The developers describe it as "A browser with your interests at heart."[1] with the built-in privacy protections.
+Brave is self updating software, uses Google as the default search engine, has built-in telemetry, and even has an opt-out rss-like news feed similar to Firefox Pocket. These shouldn't be the things that come to mind if someone were to imagine a privacy oriented browser.
+Brave will check for updates every time you run it, and you can't turn it off from the browser. Athough, it's on Brave's low priority list to add an option to do so.[2] The reason why it's low priority would be because it's been over a year and there hasn't been an implementation of it yet.
+While running, Brave will make lots of requests to the domain p3a.brave.com as telemetry. They claim they store the collected data for several days.[8] This feature is an opt-out that can be disabled. This opt-out can be disabled here.
Brave now has new feature similar to Firefox Pocket called Brave Today. If you don't know what Firefox Pocket is, it's basically an rss-like news feed that's shown in every blank tab. This feature Brave has is sadly an opt-out rather than an opt-in and sends lots of requests to Brave's servers. It can't seem to be disabled it in and of itself, but setting the tabs to blank seems to stop the requests.
+Brave uses SafeBrowsing. It's a feature that tries to "protect" the user from potentially unsafe websites and extensions. However, it sends requests to fetch the information required. Brave's SafeBrowsing is powered by google.[10] This opt-out can be disabled here.
+Brave has a rewards program. You can find more information about it here.[3] At first glance it looks like the rewards program is an opt-in, but the browser makes requests to these domains regardless if you sign up or not:
+rewards.brave.com
api.rewards.brave.com
grant.rewards.brave.com
A quick update: These requests have been reported as a bug and for the most part have been fixed (with a couple exceptions). I'll remove this section once the bug has been completely fixed.[12]
+Brave on first run sends a request to fetch the library used for checking spelling errors:
+
+ Brave on startup sends a request to variations.brave.com. Brave uses this to turn on and off features. There isn't a way to disable this as of yet.[11]
+ Brave fetches the list of affiliates through laptop-updates.brave.com:
+ Brave makes a request to static1.brave.com every once and a while, which looks like it's used to fetch plugin information?[4] When the url was placed into the browser, it was directed to Google's error 404 page.[9]
+ 
+ A quick curl --head static1.brave.com shows that Brave uses Google's gstatic, which uses Cloudflare as well:
+ On the first run, Brave fetches five extensions from brave-core-ext.s3.brave.com and tries to install them:
+ Google is the default search engine of Brave. For a browser that claims to be privacy oriented, this is a red flag. They at least make it easy for you to change the default search engine on the first run.
- Brave Browser is a Chromium fork with many interesting features not found elsewhere, such as built-in Adblock and other extensions, fingerprinting protection, a cleaner Preferences menu compared to other Chrome forks, and the (opt-in) ability to automatically support (pay) the websites you visit. The developers describe it as "A browser with your interests at heart."[1] with the built-in privacy protections.
-Brave is self updating software, uses Google as the default search engine, has built-in telemetry, and even has an opt-out rss-like news feed similar to Firefox Pocket. These shouldn't be the things that come to mind if someone were to imagine a privacy oriented browser.
-Brave will check for updates every time you run it, and you can't turn it off from the browser. Athough, it's on Brave's low priority list to add an option to do so.[2] The reason why it's low priority would be because it's been over a year and there hasn't been an implementation of it yet.
-While running, Brave will make lots of requests to the domain p3a.brave.com as telemetry. They claim they store the collected data for several days.[8] This feature is an opt-out that can be disabled. This opt-out can be disabled here.
Brave now has new feature similar to Firefox Pocket called Brave Today. If you don't know what Firefox Pocket is, it's basically an rss-like news feed that's shown in every blank tab. This feature Brave has is sadly an opt-out rather than an opt-in and sends lots of requests to Brave's servers. It can't seem to be disabled it in and of itself, but setting the tabs to blank seems to stop the requests.
-Brave uses SafeBrowsing. It's a feature that tries to "protect" the user from potentially unsafe websites and extensions. However, it sends requests to fetch the information required. Brave's SafeBrowsing is powered by google.[10] This opt-out can be disabled here.
-Brave has a rewards program. You can find more information about it here.[3] At first glance it looks like the rewards program is an opt-in, but the browser makes requests to these domains regardless if you sign up or not:
-rewards.brave.com
api.rewards.brave.com
grant.rewards.brave.com
A quick update: These requests have been reported as a bug and for the most part have been fixed (with a couple exceptions). I'll remove this section once the bug has been completely fixed.[12]
-Brave on first run sends a request to fetch the library used for checking spelling errors:
-
- Brave on startup sends a request to variations.brave.com. Brave uses this to turn on and off features. There isn't a way to disable this as of yet.[11]
- Brave fetches the list of affiliates through laptop-updates.brave.com:
- Brave makes a request to static1.brave.com every once and a while, which looks like it's used to fetch plugin information?[4] When the url was placed into the browser, it was directed to Google's error 404 page.[9]
-
- A quick curl --head static1.brave.com shows that Brave uses Google's gstatic, which uses Cloudflare as well:
- On the first run, Brave fetches five extensions from brave-core-ext.s3.brave.com and tries to install them:
- Google is the default search engine of Brave. For a browser that claims to be privacy oriented, this is a red flag. They at least make it easy for you to change the default search engine on the first run.
- 1. - Brave's website - [web.archive.org] - [archive.is] - [ghostarchive.org] -
- -- 2. - Add a disable autoupdate feature - [web.archive.org] - [archive.is] - [ghostarchive.org] -
- -- 3. - Brave Rewards Program - [web.archive.org] - [archive.is] - [ghostarchive.org] -
- -- 4. - Plugin Information? - [web.archive.org] - [ghostarchive.org] -
- -- 5. - Facebook, Twitter Trackers Whitelisted by Brave Browser - [web.archive.org] - [ghostarchive.org] -
- -- 6. - Brave Browser Features - [web.archive.org] - [archive.is] - [ghostarchive.org] -
- -- 7. - Script Blocking Exceptions Update - [web.archive.org] - [ghostarchive.org] - -
- -- 8. - Brave's Analytics - [web.archive.org] - [ghostarchive.org] -
- -- 9. - - Brave's static site - [archive.is] - [archive.org] -
- -- 10. - Brave's Deviations from Chromium - [web.archive.org] - [ghostarchive.org] -
- -- 11. - Allow to opt-out of Griffin variations - [web.archive.org] - [ghostarchive.org] -
- -- 12. - Only make requests to *.rewards.brave.com... - [web.archive.org] - [ghostarchive.org] -
- +If you want to contribute to this website, you can always make a pull request.
+If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg.
All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
+ Brave Browser - форк Chromium'а со множеством интересных возможностей, которых нет где-либо еще, такие как встроенный блокировщик рекламы и другие расширения, защита от отпечатков браузера, менее загруженное меню по сравнению с другими форками Chrome и встроенная возможность для автоматического пожертвования сайтам, которые вы посещаете. Разработчики описывают его как "Браузер, защищающий ваши интересы"[1] со встроенной защитой конфиденциальности пользователя.
+Brave обновляется автоматически, использует Google в качестве поисковика по умолчанию, имеет встроенную телеметрию и даже имеет ленту новостей, похожую на Firefox Pocket. Этого не должно быть в браузере, который ориентирован на конфиденциальность пользователя.
+Brave будет проверять обновления каждый раз, когда вы его запускаете, и вы не можете это отключить. Добавление данной опции обладает низким приоритетом в разработке Brave[2], так как прошло уже больше года и её всё еще нет.
+Во время работы Brave будет делать много запросов к домену p3a.brave.com в качестве телеметрии. Они утверждают, что хранят данные только несколько дней[8]. Эта опция может быть отключена здесь.
Brave содержит сервис похожий на Firefox Pocket - Brave Today. Это новостная лента, которая показывается на каждой пустой новой вкладке. Эта возможность к сожалению включена по умолчанию и посылает множество запросов к серверам Brave. Кажется, что нельзя отключить эту опцию, но если установить новые вкладки как пустые, то похоже, что это останавливает запросы.
+Brave использует SafeBrowsing. Это функция, которая пытается "защитить" пользователя от возможных небезопасных веб-сайтов и расширений. Однако, она посылает запросы, чтобы получить требуемую информацию. Brave SafeBrowsing поддерживается Google[10]. Данная функция может быть отключена здесь.
+У Brave есть программа вознаграждений[3]. На первый взгляд кажется, что она необязательна, но браузер делает запросы к доменам ниже независимо от регистрации в программе:
+rewards.brave.com
api.rewards.brave.com
grant.rewards.brave.com
Небольшое дополнение: об этих запросах сообщалось как об ошибках, и по большей части они исправлены (за несколькими исключениями). Этот раздел будет удалён, как только ошибки будут полностью исправлены[12].
+При первом запуске Brave отправляет запрос, чтобы получить библиотеку для проверки орфографии.
+
+ При старте Brave посылает запросы к variations.brave.com. Brave использует это для включения и выключения функций. Пока нет никакого способа отключить это[11].
+ Brave получает список партнёров через запросы к laptop-updates.brave.com:
+ Время от времени Brave делает запрос к static1.brave.com, что выглядит как будто он пытается получить информацию о плагинах[4]. В браузере эта ссылка ведёт на страницу Google с ошибкой 404[9].
+
+ Команда curl --head static1.brave.com показывает, что Brave использует Google gstatic, который также использует Cloudflare:
+ При первом запуске Brave скачивает пять расширений из brave-core-ext.s3.brave.com и пытается установить их:
+ Google - стандартная поисковая система в Brave. Это очень странно для браузера, позиционирующего себя приватным. По крайней мере, при первом запуске Brave даёт выбор поисковой системы по умолчанию.
- Brave Browser - форк Chromium'а со множеством интересных возможностей, которых нет где-либо еще, такие как встроенный блокировщик рекламы и другие расширения, защита от отпечатков браузера, менее загруженное меню по сравнению с другими форками Chrome и встроенная возможность для автоматического пожертвования сайтам, которые вы посещаете. Разработчики описывают его как "Браузер, защищающий ваши интересы"[1] со встроенной защитой конфиденциальности пользователя.
-Brave обновляется автоматически, использует Google в качестве поисковика по умолчанию, имеет встроенную телеметрию и даже имеет ленту новостей, похожую на Firefox Pocket. Этого не должно быть в браузере, который ориентирован на конфиденциальность пользователя.
-Brave будет проверять обновления каждый раз, когда вы его запускаете, и вы не можете это отключить. Добавление данной опции обладает низким приоритетом в разработке Brave[2], так как прошло уже больше года и её всё еще нет.
-Во время работы Brave будет делать много запросов к домену p3a.brave.com в качестве телеметрии. Они утверждают, что хранят данные только несколько дней[8]. Эта опция может быть отключена здесь.
Brave содержит сервис похожий на Firefox Pocket - Brave Today. Это новостная лента, которая показывается на каждой пустой новой вкладке. Эта возможность к сожалению включена по умолчанию и посылает множество запросов к серверам Brave. Кажется, что нельзя отключить эту опцию, но если установить новые вкладки как пустые, то похоже, что это останавливает запросы.
-Brave использует SafeBrowsing. Это функция, которая пытается "защитить" пользователя от возможных небезопасных веб-сайтов и расширений. Однако, она посылает запросы, чтобы получить требуемую информацию. Brave SafeBrowsing поддерживается Google[10]. Данная функция может быть отключена здесь.
-У Brave есть программа вознаграждений[3]. На первый взгляд кажется, что она необязательна, но браузер делает запросы к доменам ниже независимо от регистрации в программе:
-rewards.brave.com
api.rewards.brave.com
grant.rewards.brave.com
Небольшое дополнение: об этих запросах сообщалось как об ошибках, и по большей части они исправлены (за несколькими исключениями). Этот раздел будет удалён, как только ошибки будут полностью исправлены[12].
-При первом запуске Brave отправляет запрос, чтобы получить библиотеку для проверки орфографии.
-
- При старте Brave посылает запросы к variations.brave.com. Brave использует это для включения и выключения функций. Пока нет никакого способа отключить это[11].
- Brave получает список партнёров через запросы к laptop-updates.brave.com:
- Время от времени Brave делает запрос к static1.brave.com, что выглядит как будто он пытается получить информацию о плагинах[4]. В браузере эта ссылка ведёт на страницу Google с ошибкой 404[9].
-
- Команда curl --head static1.brave.com показывает, что Brave использует Google gstatic, который также использует Cloudflare:
- При первом запуске Brave скачивает пять расширений из brave-core-ext.s3.brave.com и пытается установить их:
- Google - стандартная поисковая система в Brave. Это очень странно для браузера, позиционирующего себя приватным. По крайней мере, при первом запуске Brave даёт выбор поисковой системы по умолчанию.
- 1. - Brave's website - [web.archive.org] - [archive.is] - [ghostarchive.org] -
- -- 2. - Add a disable autoupdate feature - [web.archive.org] - [archive.is] - [ghostarchive.org] -
- -- 3. - Brave Rewards Program - [web.archive.org] - [archive.is] - [ghostarchive.org] -
- -- 4. - Plugin Information? - [web.archive.org] - [ghostarchive.org] -
- -- 5. - Facebook, Twitter Trackers Whitelisted by Brave Browser - [web.archive.org] - [ghostarchive.org] -
- -- 6. - Brave Browser Features - [web.archive.org] - [archive.is] - [ghostarchive.org] -
- -- 7. - Script Blocking Exceptions Update - [web.archive.org] - [ghostarchive.org] - -
- -- 8. - Brave's Analytics - [web.archive.org] - [ghostarchive.org] -
- -- 9. - - Brave's static site - [archive.is] - [archive.org] -
- -- 10. - Brave's Deviations from Chromium - [web.archive.org] - [ghostarchive.org] -
- -- 11. - Allow to opt-out of Griffin variations - [web.archive.org] - [ghostarchive.org] -
- -- 12. - Only make requests to *.rewards.brave.com... - [web.archive.org] - [ghostarchive.org] -
+If you want to contribute to this website, you can always make a pull request.
+If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg.
All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
- CCleaner, developed by Piriform, is a utility program used to clean - potentially unwanted files and invalid Windows Registry entries from a - computer. -
+CCleaner, developed by Piriform, is a utility program used to clean potentially unwanted files and invalid Windows Registry entries from a computer.
- CCleaner is spyware that collects your personal information to - advertise to you. It also sells your information to third parties so - that they can advertise to you. It collects a huge amount of very - personal information, like your - physical location. CCleaner uses the - technique of privacy policy obfuscation where it provides one privacy - policy for every single product its company offers, making it more - difficult to know what parts of the privacy policy apply to which - program. -
+CCleaner is spyware that collects your personal information to advertise to you. It also sells your information to third parties so that they can advertise to you. It collects a huge amount of very personal information, like your physical location. CCleaner uses the technique of privacy policy obfuscation where it provides one privacy policy for every single product its company offers, making it more difficult to know what parts of the privacy policy apply to which program.
- CCleaner clearly shows in its privacy settings that it is collecting - information about your computer and selling that information to - advertisers. Below is a screenshot on how to mitigate some of it. -
-
- - Image Source: [2] -
- +CCleaner clearly shows in its privacy settings that it is collecting information about your computer and selling that information to advertisers. Below is a screenshot on how to mitigate some of it.
+
+ Image Source: [2]
- If we look at the privacy policy, we can see that CCleaner reports the - following[3]: -
+If we look at the privacy policy, we can see that CCleaner reports the following[3]:
- Beyond this, CCleaner is integrated with the following spyware - platforms, which all collect their own sets of information: -
+Beyond this, CCleaner is integrated with the following spyware platforms, which all collect their own sets of information:
- It would be very time-consuming to go through all of those privacy - policies (especially because many of these are obfuscated), but it - should be enough to understand that CCleaner is full of third party - spyware, as well as first party spyware. -
+It would be very time-consuming to go through all of those privacy policies (especially because many of these are obfuscated), but it should be enough to understand that CCleaner is full of third party spyware, as well as first party spyware.
- From the privacy policy[3]: -
-- - "When we collect your email address, we may market our other - products and services to you. You may choose to unsubscribe from - future email marketing by following the instructions in the email." - -
+From the privacy policy[3]:
+"When we collect your email address, we may market our other products and services to you. You may choose to unsubscribe from future email marketing by following the instructions in the email."
- According to the privacy policy, the CCleaner website tries to track - your physical location.[3] -
-- - "Our websites use cookies to acquire data that may be used to - determine your physical location via your Internet Protocol address - (“IP Address”) and automated geolocation techniques, or to acquire - basic information about the computer, tablet, or mobile phone that - you use to visit us." - -
-- "location data" is also mentioned when talking about the - information that CCleaner itself collects about its users. -
+According to the privacy policy, the CCleaner website tries to track your physical location.[3]
+"Our websites use cookies to acquire data that may be used to determine your physical location via your Internet Protocol address (“IP Address”) and automated geolocation techniques, or to acquire basic information about the computer, tablet, or mobile phone that you use to visit us."
+"location data" is also mentioned when talking about the information that CCleaner itself collects about its users.
- In the past, CCleaner has been compromised and backdoors have been - added to it.[1] -
+In the past, CCleaner has been compromised and backdoors have been added to it.[1]
- If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us - at the git repo on - Codeberg. -
-- All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be - accepted. -
-
-
+ If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg.
+All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
+
- CDex is an Open Source Digital Audio CD Extractor. -
+CDex is an Open Source Digital Audio CD Extractor.
- CDex's installer bundles it with spyware, and it will randomly suggest - a spyware program to the user, with a chance to opt-out. Usually it - attempts to bundle itself with the WebDiscover browser and one time I - got it to try and offer me an antivirus program, but I wasn't able to - reproduce this. The program was tested on Windows 7 32-bit with - Microsoft Network Monitor 3.4 and Wireshark 2.6.2. The version of the - program tested was 2.06. - It did not make any connections to the internet - that my tests were able to find. To test the program I ripped the - audio files out of a CD with both network monitoring programs open. -
+CDex's installer bundles it with spyware, and it will randomly suggest a spyware program to the user, with a chance to opt-out. Usually it attempts to bundle itself with the WebDiscover browser and one time I got it to try and offer me an antivirus program, but I wasn't able to reproduce this. The program was tested on Windows 7 32-bit with Microsoft Network Monitor 3.4 and Wireshark 2.6.2. The version of the program tested was 2.06. It did not make any connections to the internet that my tests were able to find. To test the program I ripped the audio files out of a CD with both network monitoring programs open.
- CDex attempts to bundle itself with the - WebDiscover web browser. - This is an Opt-out and not an Opt-in like it should be. This program - is spyware, because according to its privacy policy[1], it collects information about its users. -
-
+ CDex attempts to bundle itself with the WebDiscover web browser. This is an Opt-out and not an Opt-in like it should be. This program is spyware, because according to its privacy policy[1], it collects information about its users.
+
- If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us - at the git repo on - Codeberg. -
-- All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be - accepted. -
- -
-
-
+ If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg.
+All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
+
- - Google Chrome is a web browser developed and distributed by Google. -
-- Large parts of Google Chrome are open source, however not all of them are, and this prevents people from - checking the entire software for potential spyware features that are not disclosed. -
-- Google Chrome contains several spyware features that reply on the user's search history being uploaded to Google - servers. This is confirmed by the language in the privacy policy[1], clarifying the - spyware features that rely on this. -
-- The first spyware feature is Google Chrome's integration with the "Google Account" spyware platform. " If you - are signed in to a Google site or signed in to Chrome and Google is your default search engine, searches you - perform using the address bar in Chrome are stored in your Google account. " -
-- Google Chrome also contains a spyware feature called "Search prediction service". It is explained that: "When - you search using the address bar in Chrome, the characters you type (even if you haven’t hit "enter" yet) are - sent to your default search engine. If Google is your default search engine, predictions are based on your own - search history, topics related to what you’re typing and what other people are searching for." -
-- There is also the spyware feature "Navigation Assistance" which states that: "When you can’t connect to a web - page, you can get suggestions for alternative pages similar to the one you're trying to reach. In order to - offer you suggestions, Chrome sends Google the URL of the page you're trying to reach. " -
-- In the privacy policy[1], Google details the extreme spyware feature it labels - "Usage Statistics and Crash Reports". What it does, is it sends very detailed information about your hardware - and computer usage, which confirms that it definitely contains the following spyware features:
-- But, it can also be extrapolated from the vague language that Chrome could and probably does monitor what other - programs you have open. Either way, it is an extreme amount of information being collected, since it can be used - to recreate what the user is doing on their desktop at all times. Chrome clarifies that this information is - being sent whenever a website is being "slow" or whenever Google Chrome crashes. -
-- Google Payments is a spyware service that records your banking information and sends it to Google.[2] This service is integrated into the Google Chrome browser, which makes it another - opt-in spyware feature in the software. -
-- This was confirmed in multiple places[3][4]. Basically, - whenever you type into the search bar, that information is sent to Google. You can apparently turn it off by - opting out of the "suggestion service". -
-- Google Chrome is confirmed to be constantly listening to any open microphones on your computer. This can be - found in this statement[5] in a privacy publication. "Voice & audio - information may be collected. For example, if your child uses audio activation commands (e.g., "OK, Google" or - touching the microphone icon), a recording of the following speech/audio, plus a few seconds before, - will be stored to their account…" This feature is opt-in if you are using the "Google Accounts" spyware - platform and specifically tell Google to build a profile of your child. It's unverified whether or not Google - uploads information it listens too to its servers outside of this feature. -
-- Any password stored in Google Chrome's "password management" feature is uploaded to Google if you sign into the - "Google Accounts" spyware platform. -
-- According to the privacy policy[1], Google Chrome profiles what kinds of web forms - you fill out, as well as what kind of language the content you consume is primarily in. Google Chrome also - creates a unique identifier for each install you do. This unique identifier is sent to Google whenever you start - the browser, so that Google can create a consistent user identity for you, undermining anonymity. Google also - stores all of your settings on it's official servers when using the "Google Accounts" feature. -
-- Google Chrome has an updater which is constantly running in the background and syncing with Google servers to - check for updates. The updater will download and run unverified binaries from Google when it updates Google - Chrome. It is impossible for an automatic updater service such as this to verify that the updates are not - spyware and/or do not contain additional spyware features. -
-
+ Google Chrome is a web browser developed and distributed by Google.
+Large parts of Google Chrome are open source, however not all of them are, and this prevents people from checking the entire software for potential spyware features that are not disclosed.
+Google Chrome contains several spyware features that reply on the user's search history being uploaded to Google servers. This is confirmed by the language in the privacy policy[1], clarifying the spyware features that rely on this. +
+The first spyware feature is Google Chrome's integration with the "Google Account" spyware platform. "If you are signed in to a Google site or signed in to Chrome and Google is your default search engine, searches you perform using the address bar in Chrome are stored in your Google account."
+Google Chrome also contains a spyware feature called "Search prediction service". It is explained that: "When you search using the address bar in Chrome, the characters you type (even if you haven’t hit "enter" yet) are sent to your default search engine. If Google is your default search engine, predictions are based on your own search history, topics related to what you’re typing and what other people are searching for."
+There is also the spyware feature "Navigation Assistance" which states that: "When you can’t connect to a web page, you can get suggestions for alternative pages similar to the one you're trying to reach. In order to offer you suggestions, Chrome sends Google the URL of the page you're trying to reach."
+In the privacy policy[1], Google details the extreme spyware feature it labels "Usage Statistics and Crash Reports". What it does, is it sends very detailed information about your hardware and computer usage, which confirms that it definitely contains the following spyware features:
+But, it can also be extrapolated from the vague language that Chrome could and probably does monitor what other programs you have open. Either way, it is an extreme amount of information being collected, since it can be used to recreate what the user is doing on their desktop at all times. Chrome clarifies that this information is being sent whenever a website is being "slow" or whenever Google Chrome crashes.
+Google Payments is a spyware service that records your banking information and sends it to Google.[2] This service is integrated into the Google Chrome browser, which makes it another opt-in spyware feature in the software.
+This was confirmed in multiple places[3][4]. Basically, whenever you type into the search bar, that information is sent to Google. You can apparently turn it off by opting out of the "suggestion service".
+Google Chrome is confirmed to be constantly listening to any open microphones on your computer. This can be found in this statement[5] in a privacy publication. "Voice & audio information may be collected. For example, if your child uses audio activation commands (e.g., "OK, Google" or touching the microphone icon), a recording of the following speech/audio, plus a few seconds before, will be stored to their account…" This feature is opt-in if you are using the "Google Accounts" spyware platform and specifically tell Google to build a profile of your child. It's unverified whether or not Google uploads information it listens too to its servers outside of this feature.
+Any password stored in Google Chrome's "password management" feature is uploaded to Google if you sign into the "Google Accounts" spyware platform.
+According to the privacy policy[1], Google Chrome profiles what kinds of web forms you fill out, as well as what kind of language the content you consume is primarily in. Google Chrome also creates a unique identifier for each install you do. This unique identifier is sent to Google whenever you start the browser, so that Google can create a consistent user identity for you, undermining anonymity. Google also stores all of your settings on it's official servers when using the "Google Accounts" feature.
+Google Chrome has an updater which is constantly running in the background and syncing with Google servers to check for updates. The updater will download and run unverified binaries from Google when it updates Google Chrome. It is impossible for an automatic updater service such as this to verify that the updates are not spyware and/or do not contain additional spyware features.
If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg.
+All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
+
If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg.
-All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
-
- Google Chrome es un navegador web desarollado y distribuido por Google
- -Muchas partes de Google Chrome son libres, pero no todas de estas lo son. y esto no permite que se compruebe que no es spyware
- Google Chrome contiene mucho spyware que responden en el historial de la busqueda de usuario. Esto es confirmado en la política de privacidad de Google Chrome[1]
-
-
La primera caracteristia de spyware de Chrome es la integración con la "Cuenta de Google" (Que es spyware en si). Explica que: "Cuando buscas usando la barra de direccion de google, los caracteres que has escrito (incluso si no has pulsado enter todavia) son enviados a tu motor de busqueda. Si Google es tu motor de busqueda por defecto, las predicciones estan basadas en tus busquedas -
-- Encima tiene otro spyware llamado "Asistencia de naveegacion" que dice que "Cuando no puedes conectarte a una página web, puedes obtener sugerencias para páginas alternativas (Vamos, que Google Chrome envía la dirección a la que has intentado entrar para darte otra -Google Chrome recopila el uso de tu ordenador
- -En la política de privacidad Google admite el estupidamente alto spyware llamado "Estadisticas de uso y reportes de errores fatales" Lo que hace es recopilar (y enviar) informacion de tu ordenador extremadamente especifica sobre tu hardware y el uso de tu ordenador, y obviamente, tiene esto -
Google Payments es un spyware que graba tus datos bancarios y los envía a Google[2] Este servicio esta integrado en Google Chrome, lo que hace un spyware opt-in en el programa. -
-Esto fue confirmado en muchos sitios [3][4] Basicamente, cualquier cosa que escribas en la barra de busqueda será enviada a Google. se puede, aparentemente, desactivar. -
-Está confirmado que Google Chrome esta constantemente grabando micros en tu ordenador. Esto se puede ver en esta referencia [5] dice: "Audio y voz puede ser recolectada, por ejemplo, si su hijo usa comandos de activacion (Ejemplo, "Ok, Google" o tocando el icono del microfono) se grabara Tambien unos segundos despues " Esta caracteristica es Opt-in si usas las "Cuentas de Google" y si le dices a Google para hacer un perfil para tu hijo, es imposible saber si Google sube estos audios a sus servidores
- -Cualquier contraseña guardada en el gestor de contraseñas de Chrome es subida a los servidores de Google si inicias sesión en Google Chrome
-Según su política de privacidad[1] Google Chrome guarda lo que rellenarías en formularios de paginas, tambien el idioma en el que mas consumespaginas web, Google Chrome, encima, crea un identificador unico porcada instalación, esto se envía a Google cada vez que abres el navegador, esto quiere decir que Google crea una identidad tuya propia, Google tambien, como ya lo he dicho, mas de una vez, Google guarda todos tus datos si inicias sesión en Chrome con tu cuenta de Google
-- Google Chrome tiene un actualizador que constantemente va en segundo plano y sincronizandose con los servidores de Google en busca de actualizaciones. Esto lo que hace es descargar y abrir los binarios no verificados cada vez que Google actualiza Chrome. Es imposible para un software con actualizaciones automaticas verificar si es o no spyware -
-
- Reasons not to use Google
- [web.archive.org]
- [archive.is]
-
- Welcome to the Botnet. Or, The Case Against Google Chrome
- [web.archive.org]
- [archive.is]
-
-
- This article was created on 08/17/2021
- This is a translation of the english article. It may become outdated- compare the dates on both articles.
-
- If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg. All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 liscence to be accepted. -
-
- Catalog
-
+ Google Chrome es un navegador web desarollado y distribuido por Google
+Muchas partes de Google Chrome son libres, pero no todas de estas lo son. y esto no permite que se compruebe que no es spyware
+Google Chrome contiene mucho spyware que responden en el historial de la busqueda de usuario. Esto es confirmado en la política de privacidad de Google Chrome[1]
+La primera caracteristia de spyware de Chrome es la integración con la "Cuenta de Google" (Que es spyware en si). Explica que: "Cuando buscas usando la barra de direccion de google, los caracteres que has escrito (incluso si no has pulsado enter todavia) son enviados a tu motor de busqueda. Si Google es tu motor de busqueda por defecto, las predicciones estan basadas en tus busquedas
+Encima tiene otro spyware llamado "Asistencia de naveegacion" que dice que "Cuando no puedes conectarte a una página web, puedes obtener sugerencias para páginas alternativas (Vamos, que Google Chrome envía la dirección a la que has intentado entrar para darte otra Google Chrome recopila el uso de tu ordenador
+En la política de privacidad [1] Google admite el estupidamente alto spyware llamado "Estadisticas de uso y reportes de errores fatales" Lo que hace es recopilar (y enviar) informacion de tu ordenador extremadamente especifica sobre tu hardware y el uso de tu ordenador, y obviamente, tiene esto
+Google Payments es un spyware que graba tus datos bancarios y los envía a Google[2] Este servicio esta integrado en Google Chrome, lo que hace un spyware opt-in en el programa.
+Esto fue confirmado en muchos sitios [3][4] Basicamente, cualquier cosa que escribas en la barra de busqueda será enviada a Google. se puede, aparentemente, desactivar.
+Está confirmado que Google Chrome esta constantemente grabando micros en tu ordenador. Esto se puede ver en esta referencia [5] dice: "Audio y voz puede ser recolectada, por ejemplo, si su hijo usa comandos de activacion (Ejemplo, "Ok, Google" o tocando el icono del microfono) se grabara Tambien unos segundos despues " Esta caracteristica es Opt-in si usas las "Cuentas de Google" y si le dices a Google para hacer un perfil para tu hijo, es imposible saber si Google sube estos audios a sus servidores
+Cualquier contraseña guardada en el gestor de contraseñas de Chrome es subida a los servidores de Google si inicias sesión en Google Chrome
+Según su política de privacidad[1] Google Chrome guarda lo que rellenarías en formularios de paginas, tambien el idioma en el que mas consumespaginas web, Google Chrome, encima, crea un identificador unico porcada instalación, esto se envía a Google cada vez que abres el navegador, esto quiere decir que Google crea una identidad tuya propia, Google tambien, como ya lo he dicho, mas de una vez, Google guarda todos tus datos si inicias sesión en Chrome con tu cuenta de Google
+Google Chrome tiene un actualizador que constantemente va en segundo plano y sincronizandose con los servidores de Google en busca de actualizaciones. Esto lo que hace es descargar y abrir los binarios no verificados cada vez que Google actualiza Chrome. Es imposible para un software con actualizaciones automaticas verificar si es o no spyware
+If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg.
+All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
+
+
- 
-
-Clementine - is a music player and library organizer, based on Amarok 1.4, and licensed under the GPL. -
-
- As Mitmproxy + Proxychains show, Clementine makes requests to data.clementine-player.org. If we search information about this domain, we can see it's for fetching information about artists, songs and OAuth info.[2]
-
It's made to give search suggestitions, lyrics, and internet radio and podcast lists. Also, Clementine is using Wikipedia as the main source of information about artists. Wikipedia is logging your IP-adress. Clementine does have the native possibility to run network traffic through a proxy.
-
- 1.
- Clementine Music Player
- 2.
- info about data.clementine-player.org
-
-
- This article was last edited on 2/3/2022 -
-- If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg. All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted. -
-
-
-
+
+ Clementine - is a music player and library organizer, based on Amarok 1.4, and licensed under the GPL.
+As Mitmproxy + Proxychains show, Clementine makes requests to data.clementine-player.org. If we search information about this domain, we can see it's for fetching information about artists, songs and OAuth info.[2]
It's made to give search suggestitions, lyrics, and internet radio and podcast lists. Also, Clementine is using Wikipedia as the main source of information about artists. Wikipedia is logging your IP-adress. Clementine does have the native possibility to run network traffic through a proxy.
+If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg.
+All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
+
+ 
- Discord is an instant messaging application for macOS, Windows, GNU/Linux, - Android, and iOS. Discord is used to communicate via voice chat and - text chat, and has image-sharing and file-sharing capabilities. -
+Discord is an instant messaging application for macOS, Windows, GNU/Linux, Android, and iOS. Discord is used to communicate via voice chat and text chat, and has image-sharing and file-sharing capabilities.
-
- Thanks to Richard Stallman for linking to our article
- here!
- The spotlight is very much appreciated.
-
-
-
- - Discord is spyware because it collects all information that passes - through its communication platform. As Discord is a centralized - communication platform, all communications have to go through - Discord's official servers, where all of that information can - potentially be recorded. The vast majority of said information has - been confirmed to be recorded, such as all communications between - users. Discord has also been confirmed to use other spyware features - such as various forms of telemetry. Discord's main source of income is - from investment, from which it has received over $279.3 million - dollars[4]. Discord cannot be built from source and the source code for Discord - is unavailable. -
+Thanks to Richard Stallman for linking to our article here! The spotlight is very much appreciated.
+
+ Discord is spyware because it collects all information that passes through its communication platform. As Discord is a centralized communication platform, all communications have to go through Discord's official servers, where all of that information can potentially be recorded. The vast majority of said information has been confirmed to be recorded, such as all communications between users. Discord has also been confirmed to use other spyware features such as various forms of telemetry. Discord's main source of income is from investment, from which it has received over $279.3 million dollars[4]. Discord cannot be built from source and the source code for Discord is unavailable.
- It is impossible to download and examine Discord's source code, which - means that it is impossible to prove that Discord is not spyware. Any - program which does not make its source code available is potential - spyware. -
-- Discord explicitly confirms in its privacy policy[1] - that it collects the following information: -
+It is impossible to download and examine Discord's source code, which means that it is impossible to prove that Discord is not spyware. Any program which does not make its source code available is potential spyware.
+Discord explicitly confirms in its privacy policy[1] that it collects the following information:
- Discord does not explicitly confirm that it collects this information, - but still collects it by default: -
+Discord does not explicitly confirm that it collects this information, but still collects it by default:
- The implications of this information can be broken down like this: By - recording your IP address, Discord can track your general location - (about as precise as which county you are in). Discord can also tell - which devices you use, as it uniquely identifies each device, and how - much you use those devices, as it can record your device usage habits - (since Discord is usually open in the background so that it can - receive messages). Discord also records every single interaction you - have with other users through its service. This means that Discord is - confirmed to log every conversation that you have through Discord, and - record everything that you say on Discord, and view all images that - you send through Discord. Therefore, none of your interactions on - Discord are private. Discord's privacy policy also contains several - occurrences of phrases such as "including but not limited to," which - is an explicit confirmation that Discord contains more spyware - features that are not disclosed to the user. -
-- Discord contains the opt-in spyware feature known as "social media - integration." This allows you to sync your persistent user identity on - Discord with your persistent user identity on other spyware platforms, - such as Facebook and Twitter. In its privacy policy[1], Discord has confirmed that if you opt in to this spyware feature, - Discord will obtain an undisclosed amount of access to information - obtained about you by the spyware platforms that you choose to sync - with. -
+The implications of this information can be broken down like this: By recording your IP address, Discord can track your general location (about as precise as which county you are in). Discord can also tell which devices you use, as it uniquely identifies each device, and how much you use those devices, as it can record your device usage habits (since Discord is usually open in the background so that it can receive messages). Discord also records every single interaction you have with other users through its service. This means that Discord is confirmed to log every conversation that you have through Discord, and record everything that you say on Discord, and view all images that you send through Discord. Therefore, none of your interactions on Discord are private. Discord's privacy policy also contains several occurrences of phrases such as "including but not limited to," which is an explicit confirmation that Discord contains more spyware features that are not disclosed to the user.
+Discord contains the opt-in spyware feature known as "social media integration." This allows you to sync your persistent user identity on Discord with your persistent user identity on other spyware platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter. In its privacy policy[1], Discord has confirmed that if you opt in to this spyware feature, Discord will obtain an undisclosed amount of access to information obtained about you by the spyware platforms that you choose to sync with.
- Discord has been confirmed to monitor the open processes on your - operating system. This is a spyware feature known as a "process - logger" that is generally used to record your program usage habits. - This was confirmed by the CTO of Discord in a Reddit thread.[2] - In the same thread, the CTO also elaborates that this spyware feature - (the monitoring of processes) is mandatory for several features of the - platform. The CTO and a Discord engineer go on to claim that Discord - does not use the process logger to send records of the open processes - on the user's computer. -
-- The test to prove that Discord logs processes was done again by the - writer with procmon on 4/11/2019 with the features: "Use data to - customize my Discord Experience" and "Display currently running game - as a status message" turned off. Discord did - NOT log all of the processes open - this way. However, when setting the "Display currently running game as - a status message" turned on, the behavior described in[2] - was replicated. You can see that behavior here: -
-![Discord process logging as described in [2] confirmed with procmon](../images/discord_process_logging.png)
- - Discord claims this feature can be disabled through the UI. - This is sadly false. - Because of the nature of closed-source software it isn't possible for - either this article or the Discord developers to prove how much - information is being sent to Discord's servers when the process logger - is turned on. But it's at least possible to turn it off. -
+Discord has been confirmed to monitor the open processes on your operating system. This is a spyware feature known as a "process logger" that is generally used to record your program usage habits. This was confirmed by the CTO of Discord in a Reddit thread.[2] In the same thread, the CTO also elaborates that this spyware feature (the monitoring of processes) is mandatory for several features of the platform. The CTO and a Discord engineer go on to claim that Discord does not use the process logger to send records of the open processes on the user's computer.
+The test to prove that Discord logs processes was done again by the writer with procmon on 4/11/2019 with the features: "Use data to customize my Discord Experience" and "Display currently running game as a status message" turned off. Discord did NOT log all of the processes open this way. However, when setting the "Display currently running game as a status message" turned on, the behavior described in[2] was replicated. You can see that behavior here:
+
+ Discord claims this feature can be disabled through the UI. This is sadly false. Because of the nature of closed-source software it isn't possible for either this article or the Discord developers to prove how much information is being sent to Discord's servers when the process logger is turned on. But it's at least possible to turn it off.
- Discord shows this in its privacy option here: -
-
- - That the process logging features of Discord are now being recorded on - Discord's servers as a form of telemetry (spyware), and removes - speculation about why this feature exists. It is clarified by Discord - that this spyware feature is used for advertising to its users.[8] - This means that Discord is - recording the programs you have open to build a statistical model - of what programs you might buy/license in the future. -
-
-
- - Discord will lock users out of its service and will not allow them to - continue using it without giving their phone number or contacting - Discord support. This is especially true for TOR users. - This kind of feature is designed to extract very - personal information out of its users (phone numbers). The criteria - for locking out users isn't known. - -
-
-
+ Discord shows this in its privacy option here:
+
+ That the process logging features of Discord are now being recorded on Discord's servers as a form of telemetry (spyware), and removes speculation about why this feature exists. It is clarified by Discord that this spyware feature is used for advertising to its users.[8] This means that Discord is recording the programs you have open to build a statistical model of what programs you might buy/license in the future.
+
+ Discord will lock users out of its service and will not allow them to continue using it without giving their phone number or contacting Discord support. This is especially true for TOR users. This kind of feature is designed to extract very personal information out of its users (phone numbers). The criteria for locking out users isn't known.
+
- Discord has confirmed in an email correspondence[6] - that it does receive government requests for information. So, we know - that the government potentially has access to all of the information - that Discord collects about you. You can read a copy of the email - image posted in the source - here - in case the link there dies. -
+Discord has confirmed in an email correspondence[6] that it does receive government requests for information. So, we know that the government potentially has access to all of the information that Discord collects about you. You can read a copy of the email image posted in the sourcehere in case the link there dies.
- It's unknown whether Discord currently is or isn't selling user - information. Currently, Discord has been able to consistently raise new - investment capital, which is at a level where it could reasonably be - covering all of its operating costs. However, Discord, like any other - company, is not going to exist in a constant state of investment. - Discord is going to have to transition away from an - investment-financed business model to a revenue model that exclusively - relies on generating revenue from the users of the platform. -
-- Discord has several ways of making money. It can license emoji's and - other features of the program with Discord Nitro[5], or it can make money licensing video games through its new online - store, as a competitor to Steam. - However, both of these revenue sources may not be enough. Discord has - raised $279.3 million dollars[4] - and it has to return on this investment. (which is more than 279.3 - million dollars that has to be paid back) -
-- If Discord is not able to satisfy its obligation to its investors, - it has a third option- selling user information to advertisers. - Discord is already datamining its users to produce its - recommendation system,[8] which means - that it is already turning its userbase into extremely valuable, - sellable, advertising data. Discord has 130 million users[7], and it can produce a statistical model of what games each user (who - does not opt-out of advertising) owns, plays, and wants to buy. This - is incredibly valuable information that Discord can sell if it cannot - reach its profit obligations with its current revenue model. If Discord - was a successful games store, then it would not need to do this. But - if Discord gets in financial trouble, it probably will be forced to - liquidate this asset. -
+It's unknown whether Discord currently is or isn't selling user information. Currently, Discord has been able to consistently raise new investment capital, which is at a level where it could reasonably be covering all of its operating costs. However, Discord, like any other company, is not going to exist in a constant state of investment. Discord is going to have to transition away from an investment-financed business model to a revenue model that exclusively relies on generating revenue from the users of the platform.
+Discord has several ways of making money. It can license emoji's and other features of the program with Discord Nitro[5], or it can make money licensing video games through its new online store, as a competitor to Steam. However, both of these revenue sources may not be enough. Discord has raised $279.3 million dollars[4] and it has to return on this investment. (which is more than 279.3 million dollars that has to be paid back)
+If Discord is not able to satisfy its obligation to its investors, it has a third option- selling user information to advertisers. Discord is already datamining its users to produce its recommendation system,[8] which means that it is already turning its userbase into extremely valuable, sellable, advertising data. Discord has 130 million users[7], and it can produce a statistical model of what games each user (who does not opt-out of advertising) owns, plays, and wants to buy. This is incredibly valuable information that Discord can sell if it cannot reach its profit obligations with its current revenue model. If Discord was a successful games store, then it would not need to do this. But if Discord gets in financial trouble, it probably will be forced to liquidate this asset.
- If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us - at the git repo on - Codeberg. -
-- All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be - accepted. -
- -
-
-
+ If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg.
+All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
+
- - Discord es un programa de mensajería instantanea disponible para MacOS, GNU/Linux, Android, Windows, Android e iOS. -Discord puede usarse para comunicarse vía voz y chat de texto, también se puede usar para compartir archivos e imágenes. -
--Discord es spyware por que recolecta toda la información que pasa por su plataforma de comunicacón. Discord es una plataforma de comunicaión centralizada, todas las comunicaciones deben ir por los servidores oficiales de Discord. Donde toda la información puede ser grabada, la gran mayoría de la información dada esta confirmada. Taén se ha confirmado que Discord usa mas spyware como formas de telemetría. La mayor fuente de ingresos de discord, que ha recibido $129 millones de dolares. Discord no puede ser compilado por que no es un programa libre. -
-Discord no hace su código fuente disponible. -
-Es imposible descargar y examinar el código fuente de Discord, lo que hace imposible probar queDiscord no es spyware. Cualquier programa que no haga su código fuente disponible es potencialmente spyware -
-Discord confirma que recolecta varia información de los usuarios. -
--It is impossible to download and examine Discord's source code, -which means that it is impossible to prove that Discord is not -spyware. Any program which does not make its source code available is - potential spyware. -
--Discord no confirma que recolecta esta informacion, pero lo hace -
--La siguiente información puede usarse para: -Saber donde vives (El pais exacto) -Discord puede decir exactamente en que dispositivo estás -Puede saber todo lo que hace (Pues incluso en movil, discord corre en segundo plano, para recibir mensajes) -Discord tambien recolecta la información que le pasas a otros usuarios. Esto significa que Discord puede ver los mensajes, imagenes, y archivos enviados. -En otras palabras, ninguna conversacion mantenida en discord es privada. -
--Discord contiene "opt-in" conocido como "Integración con redes sociales" Esto hace que Discord sepa de tu identidad. -Plataformas como Facebook y Twitter, en su politica de privacidad. Discord confirma que si lo vinculas a el mismo, Discord obtendrá datos de tus redes sociales. -
--Está confirmado que discord tiene un monitor para ver los procesor que que corren en tu sistema operativo. Este spyware es conocido como "Listador de procesos" -Se usa mas que nada para grabar tus habitos de uso de programas. -
--Esto ha sido confirmado por el CTO de Discord en un hilo de Reddit[2] -En el mismo hilo, el CTO admite que es obligatorio este spyware y no puede ser removido. El CTO y un ingeniero de Discord dice que no es spyware, pero no puede ser confirmado. -
-- Discord esta esclusivamente confiado en la informacion que los usuarios generan. Esto significa que la mayor fuente de ingresos es recolectar datos de usuarios, otras fuentes son secundiaria. Discord tiene 4,2 millones de usuarios en su plataforma[3] sin otras inversiones, esto es casi toda el dinero generado por la mineria de datos de sus usuarios, discord tiene $129 millones de dolares en inversion [4] desde 2012. Discord tiene 45 millones de usuario, por lo que pueden recolectar MUCHISIMOS datos. El "Principal" medio de llegada de Ingresos de discord es Nitro[5] realisticamente, no puede ser la principal - fuente de ingresos de discord, especialmente por que Nitro es relativamente reciente.
- -- Discord ha confirmado de una de sus correspondencia de E-mail [6] donde confirma que recibe peticiones del gobierno de informacion, asi que podemos saber que el gobierno tiene toda la informacion que Discord ha recolectado de ti aqui -por si el link muere. -
-
+ Discord es un programa de mensajería instantanea disponible para MacOS, GNU/Linux, Android, Windows, Android e iOS. Discord puede usarse para comunicarse vía voz y chat de texto, también se puede usar para compartir archivos e imágenes.
+Discord es spyware por que recolecta toda la información que pasa por su plataforma de comunicacón. Discord es una plataforma de comunicaión centralizada, todas las comunicaciones deben ir por los servidores oficiales de Discord. Donde toda la información puede ser grabada, la gran mayoría de la información dada esta confirmada. Taén se ha confirmado que Discord usa mas spyware como formas de telemetría. La mayor fuente de ingresos de discord, que ha recibido $129 millones de dolares. Discord no puede ser compilado por que no es un programa libre.
+Discord no hace su código fuente disponible.
+Es imposible descargar y examinar el código fuente de Discord, lo que hace imposible probar queDiscord no es spyware. Cualquier programa que no haga su código fuente disponible es potencialmente spyware
+Discord confirma que recolecta varia información de los usuarios.
+It is impossible to download and examine Discord's source code, which means that it is impossible to prove that Discord is not spyware. Any program which does not make its source code available is potential spyware.
+Discord no confirma que recolecta esta informacion, pero lo hace
+La siguiente información puede usarse para: Saber donde vives (El pais exacto) Discord puede decir exactamente en que dispositivo estás Puede saber todo lo que hace (Pues incluso en movil, discord corre en segundo plano, para recibir mensajes) Discord tambien recolecta la información que le pasas a otros usuarios. Esto significa que Discord puede ver los mensajes, imagenes, y archivos enviados. En otras palabras, ninguna conversacion mantenida en discord es privada.
+Discord contiene "opt-in" conocido como "Integración con redes sociales" Esto hace que Discord sepa de tu identidad. Plataformas como Facebook y Twitter, en su politica de privacidad. Discord confirma que si lo vinculas a el mismo, Discord obtendrá datos de tus redes sociales.
+Está confirmado que discord tiene un monitor para ver los procesor que que corren en tu sistema operativo. Este spyware es conocido como "Listador de procesos" Se usa mas que nada para grabar tus habitos de uso de programas.
+Esto ha sido confirmado por el CTO de Discord en un hilo de Reddit[2] En el mismo hilo, el CTO admite que es obligatorio este spyware y no puede ser removido. El CTO y un ingeniero de Discord dice que no es spyware, pero no puede ser confirmado.
+Discord esta esclusivamente confiado en la informacion que los usuarios generan. Esto significa que la mayor fuente de ingresos es recolectar datos de usuarios, otras fuentes son secundiaria. Discord tiene 4,2 millones de usuarios en su plataforma[3] sin otras inversiones, esto es casi toda el dinero generado por la mineria de datos de sus usuarios, discord tiene $129 millones de dolares en inversion [4] desde 2012. Discord tiene 45 millones de usuario, por lo que pueden recolectar MUCHISIMOS datos. El "Principal" medio de llegada de Ingresos de discord es Nitro[5] realisticamente, no puede ser la principal fuente de ingresos de discord, especialmente por que Nitro es relativamente reciente.
+Discord ha confirmado de una de sus correspondencia de E-mail [6] donde confirma que recibe peticiones del gobierno de informacion, asi que podemos saber que el gobierno tiene toda la informacion que Discord ha recolectado de ti aqui por si el link muere.
+
- This article was created on 11/18/2018
- This is a translation of the english article. It may become outdated- compare the dates on both articles.
-
- If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg. All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 liscence to be accepted. -
-
-
-
+ If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg.
+All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
+
+
- 
-
-Dissenter is a web browser and plugin released by the social network company Gab. -
--The Dissenter browser is a fork of the Brave web browser. It phones home to -Brave for autoupdates and safebrowsing, which is hosted by Brave. The default search engine is DuckDuckGo. -The browser has two extensions preinstalled. One extension, "Shields", blocks certain advertisement scripts. The other, -"Dissenter" allows you to access the Dissenter social network. This extension phones home to several places whenever you open it, -including Google and Twitter. The Dissenter social network also inherently must collect more information about the user's browsing -habits than the current alternatives that already exist. It also doesn't help that their privacy policy is basically empty. -
--When the Dissenter Browser is started, it will make several connections to Brave's autoupdate services: -
-
- -Every once in a while, the Browser will send a request to Brave's instance of the Google safebrowsing service: -
-
- -
- Whenever the Dissenter extension is opened, it will phone home to several companies: -
-
- - This includes: -
-- This happens every time the extension is opened. -
-- Dissenter will send crash reports to Gab automatically. This is on by default and you have to opt-out. -
-- "When Gab crashes, it creates a report that can be sent to us to help us fix whatever caused the problem. This report contains technical information about your computer system which is typically distinctive. You can choose whether to send us these reports. Even if you have chosen to send reports in the past, you can turn off future reports in settings. Crash reports may contain personal information." - [1].
-
- Dissenter comes with its own content blocker called Shields that is meant to block trackers as you browse the web.
- This content blocker can block requests made by regular websites, but it does not block content that
- is loaded by the Dissenter extension. The Dissenter extension makes requests to trackers that would have been
- blocked by its own filter- by it's own standards Dissenter makes connections to
- tracking websites that are not necessary and not private. The spyware site googleads.g.doubleclick.net
- is correctly blocked by Shields when a normal website tries to access it, but this connection is not blocked when Dissenter accesses it...
- This is an interesting double standard when it comes to privacy.
-
- - Dissenter has the inherent problem that it associates the web pages you have visited with the discussions you are having or trying to have. - If you want to check an article's comments on Dissenter, you have to tell Gab that you visited that article. This gives Gab a very good profile - of what sites you visit and what articles you read. Currently, alternatives exist to this model that are already in place. For example, you can - create a thread on an Imageboard, Reddit-like website, or other web forum format, which sets an archived link to the article as the topic of discussion. - This format is much more private because the parties involved have much less information about what their users did. The news website has no - idea who read its article, because the traffic went to the archival service. The forum that you can freely comment on also doesn't know what - articles you looked at or what discussions you tried to have. If we only consider privacy, this method is a somewhat better way of achieving this goal. -
-
- 1.
- Dissenter Privacy Policy
- [web.archive.org]
- [archive.fo]
- [ghostarchive.org]
-
-
- This article was last edited on 8/17/2021 -
-- If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg. All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted. -
-
-
-
+ Dissenter is a web browser and plugin released by the social network company Gab.
+The Dissenter browser is a fork of the Brave web browser. It phones home to Brave for autoupdates and safebrowsing, which is hosted by Brave. The default search engine is DuckDuckGo. The browser has two extensions preinstalled. One extension, "Shields", blocks certain advertisement scripts. The other, "Dissenter" allows you to access the Dissenter social network. This extension phones home to several places whenever you open it, including Google and Twitter. The Dissenter social network also inherently must collect more information about the user's browsing habits than the current alternatives that already exist. It also doesn't help that their privacy policy is basically empty.
+When the Dissenter Browser is started, it will make several connections to Brave's autoupdate services:
+
+ Every once in a while, the Browser will send a request to Brave's instance of the Google safebrowsing service:
+
+ Whenever the Dissenter extension is opened, it will phone home to several companies:
+
+ This includes:
+This happens every time the extension is opened.
+Dissenter will send crash reports to Gab automatically. This is on by default and you have to opt-out.
+"When Gab crashes, it creates a report that can be sent to us to help us fix whatever caused the problem. This report contains technical information about your computer system which is typically distinctive. You can choose whether to send us these reports. Even if you have chosen to send reports in the past, you can turn off future reports in settings. Crash reports may contain personal information." [1].
+Dissenter comes with its own content blocker called Shields that is meant to block trackers as you browse the web. This content blocker can block requests made by regular websites, but it does not block content that is loaded by the Dissenter extension. The Dissenter extension makes requests to trackers that would have been blocked by its own filter- by it's own standards Dissenter makes connections to tracking websites that are not necessary and not private. The spyware site googleads.g.doubleclick.net is correctly blocked by Shields when a normal website tries to access it, but this connection is not blocked when Dissenter accesses it... This is an interesting double standard when it comes to privacy.
+ Dissenter has the inherent problem that it associates the web pages you have visited with the discussions you are having or trying to have. If you want to check an article's comments on Dissenter, you have to tell Gab that you visited that article. This gives Gab a very good profile of what sites you visit and what articles you read. Currently, alternatives exist to this model that are already in place. For example, you can create a thread on an Imageboard, Reddit-like website, or other web forum format, which sets an archived link to the article as the topic of discussion. This format is much more private because the parties involved have much less information about what their users did. The news website has no idea who read its article, because the traffic went to the archival service. The forum that you can freely comment on also doesn't know what articles you looked at or what discussions you tried to have. If we only consider privacy, this method is a somewhat better way of achieving this goal.
+If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg.
+All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
+
+
- 
-
-DuckDuckGo is a search engine created by Gabriel Weinberg and owned by Duck Duck Go, Inc. -
-- DuckDuckGo is a search engine that claims to protect the privacy of its users.[1] Since this a centralized service, there is no way to prove that it isn't spyware just by - looking at the technology that it uses. There are some red flags that could cause you to doubt that this service is truly private, and so this article will just list them - here to help you decide on whether or not to use this service. Ultimately there isn't proof that DuckDuckGo is spyware- but a few reasons to suspect it of being spyware. Even though, it's worth noting that - DuckDuckGo offers an onion domain... so you don't need to trust it to use it as long as you access it through TOR. -
-- Since the US Government has been known to compromise services similar to DuckDuckGo, it's reasonable to fear that it might compromise DuckDuckGo.[2][3] We don't know if DuckDuckGo has - been compromised by the US Government, but we do know that it is not a difficult task for the US Government to do that. -
-- DuckDuckGo is not consistent with its privacy policy and has directly violated it before.[2] If a service cannot follow its own privacy policy, then you can't expect it to protect - your privacy. -
-
- DuckDuckGo uses clear gifs from the domain improving.duckduckgo.com. This is a tracking technique and can be used to collect analytics about your web browser.
- Whenever you use DuckDuckGo, several requests will be sent to this domain.[4] This is of course not the kind of behavior that you would expect from a privacy concerned website, but there it is. Do you trust DuckDuckGo to collect "anonymous" analytics about you?
-
- /tech/ FAQs — DuckDuckGo
- [web.archive.org]
- [archive.is]
- [www.webcitation.org]
-
- 1.
- DuckDuckGo Privacy Policy
- [www.webcitation.org]
- [arquivo.pt]
- [archive.is]
- [ghostarchive.org]
-
-
-
- 2.
- Still trust DuckDuckGo? (dead link)
- [archive.is]
- [web.archive.org]
-
-
-
- 3.
- DuckDuckGo: The mistaken belief of the NSA-safe search engine*
-
-
-
-
- 4.
- Site Improvements
- [web.archive.org]
- [ghostarchive.org]
-
-
-
- *This is a machine-translated mirror of an article written in German hosted here. Links to the original article can be found on that page. -
- -- This article was last edited on 8/17/2021 -
-- If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg. All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted. -
-
-
-
+ DuckDuckGo is a search engine created by Gabriel Weinberg and owned by Duck Duck Go, Inc.
+DuckDuckGo is a search engine that claims to protect the privacy of its users.[1] Since this a centralized service, there is no way to prove that it isn't spyware just by looking at the technology that it uses. There are some red flags that could cause you to doubt that this service is truly private, and so this article will just list them here to help you decide on whether or not to use this service. Ultimately there isn't proof that DuckDuckGo is spyware- but a few reasons to suspect it of being spyware. Even though, it's worth noting that DuckDuckGo offers an onion domain... so you don't need to trust it to use it as long as you access it through TOR.
+Since the US Government has been known to compromise services similar to DuckDuckGo, it's reasonable to fear that it might compromise DuckDuckGo.[2][3] We don't know if DuckDuckGo has been compromised by the US Government, but we do know that it is not a difficult task for the US Government to do that.
+DuckDuckGo is not consistent with its privacy policy and has directly violated it before.[2] If a service cannot follow its own privacy policy, then you can't expect it to protect your privacy.
+DuckDuckGo uses clear gifs from the domain improving.duckduckgo.com. This is a tracking technique and can be used to collect analytics about your web browser. Whenever you use DuckDuckGo, several requests will be sent to this domain.[4] This is of course not the kind of behavior that you would expect from a privacy concerned website, but there it is. Do you trust DuckDuckGo to collect "anonymous" analytics about you?
If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg.
+All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
+
+
-DuckDuckGo es un motor de busqueda creado por Gabriel Weinberg y mantenido or Duck Duck Go, inc
-DuckDuckGo es un motor de busqueda que jura proteger la privacidad de sus usuarios [1]debido a que es un servicio sentralizado, no es posible saber si es spyware viendo la tecnologia que usa. hay algunos avisos para dudar si es realmente privado. Este artículo es solo para hacerte decidir si usar o no este servicio. Ultimamente no hay prueba de que DuckDuckGo es spyware. Pero hay algunas razones para sospechar de ser spyware, de todas formas, esta bien saber de que DuckDuckGo Ofrece un dominio onion asi que no debes dudar en usarlo si estás en TOR
-Desde que el gobierno de Estados Unidos manipula servicios similares a DuckDuckGo, Es posible que tambien haya manipulado a DuckDuckgo[2][3] Nosotros no sabemos si DuckDuckGo ha sido manipulado por el Gobierno de EEUU, pero si sabemos que es fácil para ellos hacerlo
-Se sabe que DuckDuckGo no ha cumplido con su política de privacidad en el pasado [2]Si un servicio no puede seguir su propia política de privacidad, entonces no puedes esperar que protegan tu privacidad
DuckDuckGo usa gifs en blanco para el dominio improving.duckduckgo.com esta es una técnica de seguimiento que puede ser usada para recolectar estadísticas de tu navegador. En cualquier caso, si usas DuckDuckGo enviara varias peticiones a ese dominio[4]Esto no es, por supuesto, el tipo de comportamiento que esperas de un servicio que jura proteger tu privacidad
-
- /tech/ FAQs — DuckDuckGo
- [web.archive.org]
- [archive.is]
- [www.webcitation.org]
-
- 1.
- DuckDuckGo Privacy Policy
- [www.webcitation.org]
- [arquivo.pt]
- [archive.is]
-
- 2.
- Still trust DuckDuckGo? (dead link)
- [archive.is]
- [web.archive.org]
-
- 3.
- DuckDuckGo: The mistaken belief of the NSA-safe search engine*
-
- 4.
- Site Improvements
- [web.archive.org]
-
- This article was translated on 1/15/2019
- This translation may become out of date. Compare dates with the english article.
-
- If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg. All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 liscence to be accepted. -
-
-
-
+ DuckDuckGo es un motor de busqueda creado por Gabriel Weinberg y mantenido or Duck Duck Go, inc
+DuckDuckGo es un motor de busqueda que jura proteger la privacidad de sus usuarios [1]debido a que es un servicio sentralizado, no es posible saber si es spyware viendo la tecnologia que usa. hay algunos avisos para dudar si es realmente privado. Este artículo es solo para hacerte decidir si usar o no este servicio. Ultimamente no hay prueba de que DuckDuckGo es spyware. Pero hay algunas razones para sospechar de ser spyware, de todas formas, esta bien saber de que DuckDuckGo Ofrece un dominio onion asi que no debes dudar en usarlo si estás en TOR
+Desde que el gobierno de Estados Unidos manipula servicios similares a DuckDuckGo, Es posible que tambien haya manipulado a DuckDuckgo[2][3] Nosotros no sabemos si DuckDuckGo ha sido manipulado por el Gobierno de EEUU, pero si sabemos que es fácil para ellos hacerlo
+Se sabe que DuckDuckGo no ha cumplido con su política de privacidad en el pasado [2]Si un servicio no puede seguir su propia política de privacidad, entonces no puedes esperar que protegan tu privacidad
DuckDuckGo usa gifs en blanco para el dominio improving.duckduckgo.com esta es una técnica de seguimiento que puede ser usada para recolectar estadísticas de tu navegador. En cualquier caso, si usas DuckDuckGo enviara varias peticiones a ese dominio[4]Esto no es, por supuesto, el tipo de comportamiento que esperas de un servicio que jura proteger tu privacidad
+If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg.
+All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
+
+ 
- - Internet Explorer is a Web Browser distributed by Microsoft with most versions of the Microsoft Windows Operating system. -
-- Internet Explorer contains many serious spyware features, however all of these features appear to be "opt-out" features. It is not verified whether or not opting out will actually disable all of these features, or if there are other spyware features that are not known which cannot be opted out of. Internet Explorer can record your search history and location, and report that information to Microsoft. Internet Explorer is not the worst spyware, but it is still loaded with spyware features that can mine serious information from users. -
-- Internet Explorer cannot be built from available source code. This means that it is impossible to prove that it is not a spyware program or that it does not have unknown spyware features inside of it. -
-- Internet Explorer can be updated through spyware programs such as Windows Update[1]. Automatic software updates are a spyware feature because they cannot be verified to be non-spyware by the user. Luckily, this spyware feature is opt-out and can be turned off. -
-- Internet Explorer contains a spyware feature called "flip ahead"[1]. Flip ahead will periodically send your browsing history to Microsoft. This spyware feature is opt-out and can be disabled. Microsoft claims that the information it receives is encrypted to protect user privacy and sanitized to prevent personal information from being stored. This is unverifiable. Microsoft confirms that it does use the information obtained from flip ahead to build statistical models of your browsing habits. Other spyware features such as "Smartscreen filter", and "Suggested Sites" also confirm that they send your internet history to Microsoft. -
-- Internet Explorer has the spyware feature commonly referred to as "location services", which is a feature that allows it to track the location of the user. The privacy statement[1] explains that your location is obtained through a "Microsoft Location Service". Which means that your location is sent to a Microsoft server. Microsoft does not elaborate on what it does with this data or whether it stores this data. This spyware feature is opt-out. -
-The default search engine is Bing which datamines its users and sells that information to advertisers.
-
+ Internet Explorer is a Web Browser distributed by Microsoft with most versions of the Microsoft Windows Operating system.
+Internet Explorer contains many serious spyware features, however all of these features appear to be "opt-out" features. It is not verified whether or not opting out will actually disable all of these features, or if there are other spyware features that are not known which cannot be opted out of. Internet Explorer can record your search history and location, and report that information to Microsoft. Internet Explorer is not the worst spyware, but it is still loaded with spyware features that can mine serious information from users.
+Internet Explorer cannot be built from available source code. This means that it is impossible to prove that it is not a spyware program or that it does not have unknown spyware features inside of it.
+Internet Explorer can be updated through spyware programs such as Windows Update[1]. Automatic software updates are a spyware feature because they cannot be verified to be non-spyware by the user. Luckily, this spyware feature is opt-out and can be turned off.
+Internet Explorer contains a spyware feature called "flip ahead"[1]. Flip ahead will periodically send your browsing history to Microsoft. This spyware feature is opt-out and can be disabled. Microsoft claims that the information it receives is encrypted to protect user privacy and sanitized to prevent personal information from being stored. This is unverifiable. Microsoft confirms that it does use the information obtained from flip ahead to build statistical models of your browsing habits. Other spyware features such as "Smartscreen filter", and "Suggested Sites" also confirm that they send your internet history to Microsoft.
+Internet Explorer has the spyware feature commonly referred to as "location services", which is a feature that allows it to track the location of the user. The privacy statement[1] explains that your location is obtained through a "Microsoft Location Service". Which means that your location is sent to a Microsoft server. Microsoft does not elaborate on what it does with this data or whether it stores this data. This spyware feature is opt-out.
+The default search engine is Bing which datamines its users and sells that information to advertisers.
+If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg.
+All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
+
If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg.
-All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
-
-
- -Falkon is a KDE web browser using QtWebEngine rendering engine, previously known as QupZilla. -
-- When another contributor tested this browser on Linux, it made no unsolicited connections. When I ran it on Windows, it connected to - a domain unrelated to the homepage (DuckDuckGo). But, i'm not sure what it was for, and it wasn't reproduced on Linux. This browser is probably fine, but - you should run your own tests and email me about what you found or didn't find. -
-- On the first run of Falkon, using the 32-bit Windows version, it connected to these addresses, even though I was on its homepage, which seems to be - locally stored because it does not create any requests when I go to it normally. I don't know what these are for. - Maybe it's a form of phoning home? The first IP is for the domain: github.map.fastly.net which seems to be part of a CDN. -
-
- - This article was last edited on 8/24/2018 -
-- If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg. All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted. -
-
-
-
+ Falkon is a KDE web browser using QtWebEngine rendering engine, previously known as QupZilla.
+When another contributor tested this browser on Linux, it made no unsolicited connections. When I ran it on Windows, it connected to a domain unrelated to the homepage (DuckDuckGo). But, i'm not sure what it was for, and it wasn't reproduced on Linux. This browser is probably fine, but you should run your own tests and email me about what you found or didn't find.
+On the first run of Falkon, using the 32-bit Windows version, it connected to these addresses, even though I was on its homepage, which seems to be locally stored because it does not create any requests when I go to it normally. I don't know what these are for. Maybe it's a form of phoning home? The first IP is for the domain: github.map.fastly.net which seems to be part of a CDN.
+
+ If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg.
+All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
+
+ 
- - Mozilla Firefox is one of the most popular and longest existing - browsers. Its developers have earned it a reputation for being a "privacy and security-based browser, respecting the user" — but is it justified, or just marketing? In fact, over the years they have made several anti-privacy (and generally anti-user) decisions, but this article will focus exclusively on spying. Version tested: 52.5.0, with the default settings. Program used for testing requests: Mitmproxy. -
-- After following the mitigation guide, this software is Not Spyware. -
-It sends a lot of different data very often (some of which could - uniquely identify you). All the "services" that it provides, such as - its default search engines and Pocket, are anti-privacy. The rating isn't higher - because at least you can turn off or modify most of it, though - it often requires diving deep into about:config.
- -
- Whenever you start Firefox, it makes this request: 
In fact, it makes it every time you go to a website, and even a few times in a row for a single website. So Firefox "phones home" all the time, without your knowledge. Can be disabled ONLY in about:config. But, since you've already started Firefox, it will make this request at least once.
-
- Websites you visit most often are added to the New Tab panel. When you then open a new tab, Firefox will sometimes make requests to the sites in there, including some of their trackers. I haven't determined how it works yet. Sometimes it doesn't make the requests at all; other times you end up with hundreds of images, scripts, trackers, etc. loaded simply because you opened a new tab (without visiting any website explicitly). - Was NOT able to find a way to disable this, even in about:config. -
- --Firefox has been integrated with the spyware platform called "Google Analytics"[1]. Firefox has been confirmed to now send analytics to Google. According to a Firefox developer the spyware in Firefox is "extremely useful to us and we have already weighed the cost/benefit of using tracking." and that Firefox will not remove Google Analytics support entirely. Firefox's position on privacy is made very clear with this quote: -
-"Wanted to address your position though: - -We don't give the "data directly to Google". See the discussion here: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=858839. The short version is: - -tl;dr: We now have an option to opt-out of Google doing anything with the data that Google Analytics collections on Mozilla websites. GA tracking is anonymous and at the aggregate level and we use it to improve the experience of our websites. -We are collecting aggregate and non-identifiable data in numbers to ensure our development/UX changes are met well. We can respect privacy and still have analytics; in fact Mozilla's aim is for an experience that values user privacy and usability (I'd say Apple also wants UX that fits that mold, as an example). We need some data, anonymized and aggregated, to do this. -"
--The best takeaway to this is that Mozilla wants to pretend that including spyware in their program is somehow not a breach of privacy, and that Firefox could possibly be respecting user privacy while simultaneously collecting data on users and sending it to Google. It's strongly suggested reading the GitHub thread and the further anti-privacy statements the Mozilla employee makes while defending the spyware features in Firefox. It's very dangerous to assert that there is somehow a middle ground between respecting user privacy and datamining the user. -
-
- Allegedly used to protect you from "phishing" websites, but in the end, it makes a bunch of requests to Google every 30 minutes (according to Mozilla), including a POST request with your Firefox version and a unique, persistent, hidden cookie. Since whenever the current URL matches an entry in the cached local blacklist a request is made to Google servers, ostensibly to test whether that website is still on the master online blacklist, it allows Google to monitor specific websites transparently to the user by putting the URLs of interest on the local but not the online blacklist. Can be disabled ONLY in about:config.
- 
-
- From the horse's mouth: "For example, FHR sends data to Mozilla on things like: operating system, PC/Mac, number of processors, Firefox version, the number and type of add-ons. The data collected by FHR is tied to a Document ID that corresponds to a browser installation (explained above in question #4) so that the data can be correlated across a limited window of time."[2] Also, according to Mozilla, new versions of Firefox will also collect telemetry data by default. Can be disabled through the GUI. -
- -Old versions of Firefox had Google as the default search engine, - which is obviously anti-privacy. For example, from their privacy - policy: "When you use our - services or view content provided by Google, we automatically collect - and store certain information in server logs. This includes: details - of how you used our service, such as your search queries.". Then, it - was Yahoo, which isn't better: "The Yahoo Search History tool allows - you to see what you've searched for in the past. ". So it saves all - your searches. And deleting does nothing: "Even if you clear your - past searches or turn the Search History tool off, Yahoo still - collects and stores search user log data when you use Yahoo Search - technology." Firefox 57 is going back to Google again. If they really - cared about your privacy, the default search engine would be - StartPage (which gives the same results as Google, but anonymized) or - DuckDuckGo. Can be changed through the GUI. -
- - -- Firefox has a Pocket button in its navigation bar, which allows you - to "save any article, video or page from Firefox" and "View in Pocket - on any device, any time." Let's see how it looks in terms of privacy - — quoting from Pocket's privacy policy[3]: - - "In addition to the information that you provide to us when you - register for a user account, we collect information about the URLs, - titles and content of the web pages and other information you save to - Pocket." So everything you conveniently put in "your" Pocket is - being stored (of course, otherwise Pocket wouldn't work). "The types - of information we collect includes your browser type, device type, - device id, time zone, language, and other information related to the - manner in which you access the Pocket Technologies. " So anytime you - view a file in "your" Pocket, they know everything about the device - you used to do it. "We may also use "pixel tags," "web beacons," - "clear GIFs" or similar means (individually or collectively "Pixel - Tags") in connection with emails that we send to our users in order - to collect usage data." So, they are acting like any old tracking - website, even in ways that have nothing to do with their - functionality. "We may also share your device ID with third parties - in connection with advertising campaigns. " And they work with - advertisers too! Describing all of Pocket's - violations would take up this whole article. There are similar services with better privacy policies, but in the end, they still store the things you view in "the cloud". A real privacy-based browser would not be integrated with them by default. Can be disabled in about:config[8] -
-- Not that bad compared to all of the above, I guess — but still - installs something without your consent, with possible new privacy - nightmares in there. There is no excuse to at least not make "Check for updates, but - let me choose whether to install them" the default — it would still - give the security benefit, but not take control away from the user. - Can be disabled through the GUI. -
- -
- Firefox also sometimes makes a request to "self-repair.mozilla.org" which looks like this:
- 
- It includes "optimizelyEndUserID" which probably means it
- uniquely identifies you. Can be disabled ONLY in about:config.[7]
- It also makes this request every time you open the default home page:
- 
- The number after the Firefox version is, again, uniquely
- identifying[4] Can be disabled ONLY in about:config.
-
- Firefox has a file with list of blocked addons that it considers "malicious" and it makes a request to update it every day (even if you don't have any addons installed). 
The request includes a uniquely identifying browser installation ID. Can be disabled ONLY in about:config.
-
-
- Firefox will send information about almost every basic operation that you do back to Mozilla. This is tagged with a unique client ID and an ID for your current session, and any relevant information related to this action. - By default, the following uses of the UI are reported to Mozilla[5]: -
- Essentially, while this feature doesn't broadcast your search history to Mozilla, it proves an incredibly detailed walkthrough of exactly how you use Firefox's user interface. This can be disabled and is an opt-out spyware feature. You can disable it through the GUI as described here: - Share data with Mozilla to help improve Firefox - [web.archive.org] - [archive.fo] - [ghostarchive.org] -
-- Mozilla has a feature called "Enhanced Tracking Protection". This feature's claimed goal is to protect the user from being tracked. - This would be nice if Mozilla didn't whitelist a massive list of domains[9]. -
--This review is also accompanied by a page about how to configure Firefox to be more privacy respecting, and links to other projects that have been created to solve this -problem. You can read about that here. These are some of the flags in about:config mentioned earlier in the article, and the values that -they should be set too: -
-| Spyware Feature | -about:config flag | -about:config value | -Source | -
|---|---|---|---|
| Phoning home | -network.captive-portal-service.enabled | -False | -Turn off captive portal - [archive.li] - [web.archive.org] - - | -
| Self-Repair | -browser.selfsupport.url | -"" | -How can I stop firefox from constantly connecting to self-repair.mozillia.org - [archive.is] - [ghostarchive.org] - - | -
| pocket.enabled | -False | -Disable Pocket in Firefox - [archive.is] - [ghostarchive.org] - - - - | -
- firefox "about:config" settings
- [web.archive.org]
- [archive.is]
- Firefox's Enhanced Tracking Protection whitelists Google, Instagram... and Winamp?
-
- This article was originally written by digdeeper.neocities.org
- Formatting changes and some sections were written by the site maintainer.
- Other Anonymous contributors have added other sections and various changes to this article, as well.
-
- 1.
- Google Analytics is used to track users
- [web.archive.org]
- [archive.li]
- [ghostarchive.org]
- [via.hypothes.is]
-
- 2.
- FAQ for FHR
- [web.archive.org]
- [ghostarchive.org]
- [archive.li]
-
- 3.
- Pocket Privacy Policy
- [web.archive.org]
- [archive.is]
- [ghostarchive.org]
-
-
- 4.
- Snippets Service Data Collection
- [web.archive.org]
- [archive.li]
- [ghostarchive.org]
-
-
- 5.
- Metrics we collect
- [web.archive.org]
- [archive.li]
- [ghostarchive.org]
-
-
- 6.
- Turn off captive portal
- [archive.is]
- [ghostarchive.org]
-
-
- 7.
- How can I stop firefox from constantly connecting to self-repair.mozillia.org
- [archive.is]
- [ghostarchive.org]
-
-
- 8.
- Disable Pocket in Firefox
- [archive.is]
- [ghostarchive.org]
-
-
- 9.
- List of whitelisted trackers
- [web.archive.org]
- [ghostarchive.org]
-
-
-
- This article was last edited on 08/17/2021 -
-- This article was created on 11/23/2017 -
-- If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg. All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted. -
-
- Back to catalog
+ Mozilla Firefox is one of the most popular and longest existing browsers. Its developers have earned it a reputation for being a "privacy and security-based browser, respecting the user" — but is it justified, or just marketing? In fact, over the years they have made several anti-privacy (and generally anti-user) decisions, but this article will focus exclusively on spying. Version tested: 52.5.0, with the default settings. Program used for testing requests: Mitmproxy.
+After following the mitigation guide, this software is Not Spyware.
+It sends a lot of different data very often (some of which could uniquely identify you). All the "services" that it provides, such as its default search engines and Pocket, are anti-privacy. The rating isn't higher because at least you can turn off or modify most of it, though it often requires diving deep into about:config.
+Whenever you start Firefox, it makes this request:
+
+ In fact, it makes it every time you go to a website, and even a few times in a row for a single website. So Firefox "phones home" all the time, without your knowledge. Can be disabled ONLY in about:config. But, since you've already started Firefox, it will make this request at least once.
+Websites you visit most often are added to the New Tab panel. When you then open a new tab, Firefox will sometimes make requests to the sites in there, including some of their trackers. I haven't determined how it works yet. Sometimes it doesn't make the requests at all; other times you end up with hundreds of images, scripts, trackers, etc. loaded simply because you opened a new tab (without visiting any website explicitly). Was NOT able to find a way to disable this, even in about:config. +
+Firefox has been integrated with the spyware platform called "Google Analytics"[1]. Firefox has been confirmed to now send analytics to Google. According to a Firefox developer the spyware in Firefox is "extremely useful to us and we have already weighed the cost/benefit of using tracking." and that Firefox will not remove Google Analytics support entirely. Firefox's position on privacy is made very clear with this quote:
+"Wanted to address your position though: We don't give the "data directly to Google". See the discussion here: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=858839. The short version is: tl;dr: We now have an option to opt-out of Google doing anything with the data that Google Analytics collections on Mozilla websites. GA tracking is anonymous and at the aggregate level and we use it to improve the experience of our websites. We are collecting aggregate and non-identifiable data in numbers to ensure our development/UX changes are met well. We can respect privacy and still have analytics; in fact Mozilla's aim is for an experience that values user privacy and usability (I'd say Apple also wants UX that fits that mold, as an example). We need some data, anonymized and aggregated, to do this."
+The best takeaway to this is that Mozilla wants to pretend that including spyware in their program is somehow not a breach of privacy, and that Firefox could possibly be respecting user privacy while simultaneously collecting data on users and sending it to Google. It's strongly suggested reading the GitHub thread and the further anti-privacy statements the Mozilla employee makes while defending the spyware features in Firefox. It's very dangerous to assert that there is somehow a middle ground between respecting user privacy and datamining the user.
+Allegedly used to protect you from "phishing" websites, but in the end, it makes a bunch of requests to Google every 30 minutes (according to Mozilla), including a POST request with your Firefox version and a unique, persistent, hidden cookie. Since whenever the current URL matches an entry in the cached local blacklist a request is made to Google servers, ostensibly to test whether that website is still on the master online blacklist, it allows Google to monitor specific websites transparently to the user by putting the URLs of interest on the local but not the online blacklist. Can be disabled ONLY in about:config.
+
+ From the horse's mouth: "For example, FHR sends data to Mozilla on things like: operating system, PC/Mac, number of processors, Firefox version, the number and type of add-ons. The data collected by FHR is tied to a Document ID that corresponds to a browser installation (explained above in question #4) so that the data can be correlated across a limited window of time."[2] Also, according to Mozilla, new versions of Firefox will also collect telemetry data by default. Can be disabled through the GUI.
+Old versions of Firefox had Google as the default search engine, which is obviously anti-privacy. For example, from their privacy policy: "When you use our services or view content provided by Google, we automatically collect and store certain information in server logs. This includes: details of how you used our service, such as your search queries.". Then, it was Yahoo, which isn't better: "The Yahoo Search History tool allows you to see what you've searched for in the past. ". So it saves all your searches. And deleting does nothing: "Even if you clear your past searches or turn the Search History tool off, Yahoo still collects and stores search user log data when you use Yahoo Search technology." Firefox 57 is going back to Google again. If they really cared about your privacy, the default search engine would be StartPage (which gives the same results as Google, but anonymized) or DuckDuckGo. Can be changed through the GUI.
+Firefox has a Pocket button in its navigation bar, which allows you to "save any article, video or page from Firefox" and "View in Pocket on any device, any time." Let's see how it looks in terms of privacy — quoting from Pocket's privacy policy[3]: "In addition to the information that you provide to us when you register for a user account, we collect information about the URLs, titles and content of the web pages and other information you save to Pocket." So everything you conveniently put in "your" Pocket is being stored (of course, otherwise Pocket wouldn't work). "The types of information we collect includes your browser type, device type, device id, time zone, language, and other information related to the manner in which you access the Pocket Technologies. " So anytime you view a file in "your" Pocket, they know everything about the device you used to do it. "We may also use "pixel tags," "web beacons," "clear GIFs" or similar means (individually or collectively "Pixel Tags") in connection with emails that we send to our users in order to collect usage data." So, they are acting like any old tracking website, even in ways that have nothing to do with their functionality. "We may also share your device ID with third parties in connection with advertising campaigns. " And they work with advertisers too! Describing all of Pocket's violations would take up this whole article. There are similar services with better privacy policies, but in the end, they still store the things you view in "the cloud". A real privacy-based browser would not be integrated with them by default. Can be disabled in about:config[8]
+Not that bad compared to all of the above, I guess — but still installs something without your consent, with possible new privacy nightmares in there. There is no excuse to at least not make "Check for updates, but let me choose whether to install them" the default — it would still give the security benefit, but not take control away from the user. Can be disabled through the GUI.
+Firefox also sometimes makes a request to "self-repair.mozilla.org" which looks like this:
+
+ It includes "optimizelyEndUserID" which probably means it uniquely identifies you. Can be disabled ONLY in about:config.[7]
+It also makes this request every time you open the default home page:
+
+ The number after the Firefox version is, again, uniquely identifying[4] Can be disabled ONLY in about:config.
+Firefox has a file with list of blocked addons that it considers "malicious" and it makes a request to update it every day (even if you don't have any addons installed).
+
+ The request includes a uniquely identifying browser installation ID. Can be disabled ONLY in about:config.
+Firefox will send information about almost every basic operation that you do back to Mozilla. This is tagged with a unique client ID and an ID for your current session, and any relevant information related to this action. By default, the following uses of the UI are reported to Mozilla[5]:
+Essentially, while this feature doesn't broadcast your search history to Mozilla, it proves an incredibly detailed walkthrough of exactly how you use Firefox's user interface. This can be disabled and is an opt-out spyware feature. You can disable it through the GUI as described here: Share data with Mozilla to help improve Firefox [web.archive.org] [archive.fo] [ghostarchive.org]
+Mozilla has a feature called "Enhanced Tracking Protection". This feature's claimed goal is to protect the user from being tracked. This would be nice if Mozilla didn't whitelist a massive list of domains[9].
+This review is also accompanied by a page about how to configure Firefox to be more privacy respecting, and links to other projects that have been created to solve this problem. You can read about that here. These are some of the flags in about:config mentioned earlier in the article, and the values that they should be set too:
+| Spyware Feature | +about:config flag | +about:config value | +Source | +
|---|---|---|---|
| Phoning home | +network.captive-portal-service.enabled | +False | +Turn off captive portal [archive.li] [web.archive.org] | +
| Self-Repair | +browser.selfsupport.url | +"" | +How can I stop firefox from constantly connecting to self-repair.mozillia.org [archive.is] [ghostarchive.org] | +
| pocket.enabled | +False | +Disable Pocket in Firefox [archive.is] [ghostarchive.org] | +
If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg.
+All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
+
+ 
- -Google is an advertising company that produces and researches a huge amount of spyware products and services that permeate -the internet almost entirely. It is almost impossible for the naive user to use the internet without running into Google -spyware, as they have deployed products on almost every level of the user's interaction with the internet infrastructure. -
--The following articles on this website have been written about technology created by Google: -
-
- Google Chrome
- Google Search
- YouTube
-
-The following documents are an incomplete list of policies Google uses for its various products and -services when concerning user privacy. -
-
- Google Privacy policy
- [web.archive.org]
- [ghostarchive.org]/a>
- [wayback.vefsafn.is]
- [archive.li]
-
- Why Google's Spying on User Data Is Worse than the NSA's
- Reasons not to use Google
-
- This article was last edited on 11/9/2018 -
-- If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg. All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted. -
-
-
-
+ Google is an advertising company that produces and researches a huge amount of spyware products and services that permeate the internet almost entirely. It is almost impossible for the naive user to use the internet without running into Google spyware, as they have deployed products on almost every level of the user's interaction with the internet infrastructure.
+The following articles on this website have been written about technology created by Google:
+The following documents are an incomplete list of policies Google uses for its various products and services when concerning user privacy.
+ +If you want to edit this article, or contribute your own article(s), visit us at the git repo on Codeberg.
+All contributions must be licensed under the CC0 license to be accepted.
+
+ 