Lynx Browser: The Land That Time Revived

"If you don't perceive using the Internet in the 2020s to be a constant fight, you have absolutely no online privacy whatsoever."

Lynx browser, browsing the post Cyber Freedom: No Gain Without Pain, from my Neocities site Backlit.

It might look scarily primitive at first glance, but Lynx browser - a product as old as the World Wide Web itself - could not be more of a friend. And neither could it be more relevant amid the surveillance dystopia of the 2020s. If you find it hard to keep up with the latest content-blocking customisations... If your brain is fried with endless reports of new tracking technologies... If you're sick of seeing a page of static text hang your system because some pillock of a front-end dev decided to hit your RAM with a one gigabyte JavaScript object... Well, Lynx is here to take the confusion out of dodging Big/Stupid Tech.

Failfox: How Serious is the Mozilla Crisis?

"Mozilla has become the corporate version of your local pub's self-styled "nice guy". Spends all his time trying to drape himself in virtuous veneer, but the harder he tries, the emptier the pub gets."

Let's face it. The Mozilla story is now in its pre-meltdown phase. I reckon we're about two chapters away from the scene where all the toys start flying out of the pram and former allies are roundly lambasted for choosing better browsers. Okay, maybe just one chapter. When Mozilla hits the buffers at Bigtime Central station, we can make one pretty safe bet… The blame will, as far as Mozilla is concerned, rest with everyone but Mozilla.

Dark Tracking: Understanding and Blocking Service Workers

"Service workers are basically app downloads that take place entirely at the provider's whim and under their control. Not only do we not know what the app does - we don't even know we're downloading it. Meanwhile, lawmakers think they saved online privacy with cookie banners."

The Application tab in Chromium browser's Developer Tools allows you to inspect what a service worker is caching. Above you can see the scripts dropped into my local code cache by the Tutanota service worker.

Quote the term "service worker" to your average internet user, and they'll probably envisage some abused soul being repetitively ear-bashed by permanently angry customers in a call centre. But in the tech world, a service worker is also a particularly surreptitious facet of browser technology…

WHAT ARE SERVICE WORKERS?

Service workers are JavaScript programs which expand a simple web connection into a provider-controlled online/offline relationship. They're downloaded to and installed on the user's own device - often along with a raft of cached paraphernalia they usher through the door behind them - without consent or (in most cases) knowledge. The functionality of a service worker can be likened to that of an app. But an app is installed and controlled by you. The service worker is installed and controlled by a website or platform, behind your back. That's already a problem.

Min Browser - Can YOU Resist The Irresistible?

"It's deeply cool - exactly the browser you'd want when aiming to impress a trendy guest, or an in-the-room business client who's viewing a presentation on your website."

Min browser on the left, vs Firefox on the right. Whilst Firefox is more cluttered, clunky and noticeably less appealing aesthetically, it has detected the content as Reader View compatible, whereas Min has not. Content: The Jimi Hendrix Concerts.

Do you ever look at cybertech brands and think: wouldn't it be nice if they all stopped ripping off each other's designs and did their own thing? Well, if you're bored with watching fat, bloated browsers struggle to break away from the pack, Min could put a bit of excitement back into your life.

Vivaldi Browser: Privacy Review

"In the long run, there's only so much mileage in these brands persistently directing the public's thoughts towards what is actually, in truth, their products' worst attribute."

In Bodhi Linux, Vivaldi 4.3 forced direct connections to certificate authority domains before allowing visits to encrypted pages.

The privacy bandwagon is in town, and the cart is pretty crowded as it rounds the corner onto High Street. As each jostling brand throws its surface-scrubbed privacy parcels out to the roadside gathering with gleeful abandon, open hands grab at the shower of generous gifts.

The public broadly accepts cybertech's privacy claims at face value, and this has created a digital Gold Rush, in which all manner of companies wave brightly-decorated incognito masks at Google's userbase, in the hope of enticing a lucrative mass exodus. But when Google's users jump across into this wonderful new world of incognito, it slowly dawns on them that Google has made the jump too - in an incognito mask of its own.

Why I Uninstalled Brave Browser

"The company knows those megatrackers shouldn't be there. It's already evolving from privacy by default to privacy for sale."

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash (image modified)

I've split up with my browser… No, it's okay, I'm fine… I'm picking up the pieces. I mean, obviously, you don't end a relationship without some personal impact, but… No honestly I'm fine… I really just don't wanna talk about it… Well, except to say…

FlashPeak Slimjet Browser - An Unsung Gem?

A really excellent and rather bold idea. I doubt Google very much approves of it...

Slimjet can use Chrome themes from the Chrome Store. But it's much more than a pretty face...

If you haven't run into the Slimjet browser before, you're in the majority. The world of web browsers delves deep into many enclaves - some of which are tiny, and highly specialised. Slimjet is actually big compared with some of the really obscure browsers, but it's still not a mainstream name.

In this post I'm going to explain why you should try Slimjet. If you like Chrome, but want something more orientated towards privacy, Slimjet could prove a great choice.

But before I go further, I should stress that there are a couple of conditions to this. One, YOU NEED TO SWITCH OFF EVERYTHING IN THE "SYNC AND GOOGLE SERVICES" TAB. And two, you need to run the Chromium NULL trick to disable data harvesting by the Omnibox search engine. Once you've done that, Slimjet has the makings of a great browsing regime.

Is Brave Browser Really a Good Privacy Option?

I'd rank Brave higher than Firefox in terms of privacy provision. For a start it comes with almost infinitely better native control of JavaScript.

Brave Browser has its own Tor window, which facilitates true private browsing in "incognito" mode.

Data is, so they say, the new oil, and the desperation for it across the web has turned once optional data-harvesting processes into regimes of force.

Internet browsers are now firmly on that bandwagon. Omniboxes or Omnibars routinely send data to search providers. Telemetry and user-profiling are engaged even on the privacy-advocate's one-time fave Firefox… And as for Chrome's trick of sneakily signing the actual browser into your Google account… Don't even get me started…

There are precious few stories of all-round browsers heading back in the other direction to restore good privacy. The story of Brave is one of the few, but it's a browser I found very hard to take seriously, prior to trying it.

This year, however, I did finally try out Brave, and I'm going to document what I found. How does Brave compare with its contemporaries, privacy wise? Is it the saviour of online privacy, or is it just some same old, same old hack-up hiding behind a pile of empty spin?

You Are The Product: How Your Web Browser Makes Money

You're treading a line between convenience and privacy. But web browsers are fighting a battle of their own.

Image by Bob Leggitt - @PlanetBotch

Have you ever wondered how web browsers such as Firefox and Chrome can possibly be free? I mean, not only is highly skilled human labour required to build these marvels of technology – it's also required to keep them constantly updated and fully tested, on an endless basis. That scale of development and maintenance is incredibly labour-intensive.

While some browsers are derived from open-source development projects, they do still require a lot of funding. So, if you’re not paying that cost, who is?

Browsers are financially supported by business deals, data-leverage and/or public donations. They may not look like they’re showing you ads, but they have a big influence over your behaviour. They can use their elevated position in your daily tech toolkit to entice you, trick you, or even force you into giving big tech what it wants.

The address bar, URL bar or "Omnibox" of your browser is most likely to be a piece of unmitigated spyware.

The browser’s two primary money-spinners are…