Post by Allan HigdonI now have my Windows 10 Firewall set up to block outbound connections
by default. With every other browser, creating an outbound rule for
the executable file is all that is needed. The rule allows all ports,
protocols, and IP addresses.
Why is an outbound rule needed since the purpose of a web browser is to
make connections to other hosts, including out on the Internet?
Even the stateful firewall in your router (whether separate or built
into a modem) will block unsolicited inbound connections, but allow
those you initiated via outbound connections, unless you define port
forwarding rules to punch holes through the firewall for unsolicited
connections from the outside to your intranet host (e.g., you run a VNC
server, or a web server, both hopefully inside a DMZ).
Post by Allan HigdonApparently, it's not good enough for Tor
Browser to connect to its network. That's way too flaky for me to
consider using it. Lately, I've been trying out Epic Privacy Browser.
The whole point of the Tor browser is to connect to the Onion network to
hide you, just like other web clients. Or, did you you mean the Tor web
browser would not connect to the Tor/Onion network with JUST an outbound
rule in the firewall on its executable (). You don't specify just what
"not good enough" means. That's like telling a car shop that your car
is broken, but not stating anything further. Was there an error
message? Once connected to the Tor network (you did get there, right?),
just what happens when you attempt to visit a web site?
Tor is a variant of Firefox. Firefox has an HTTPS-Only setting which
means it will connect only to https:// web sites. I think if you to
reach an http:// web site that Firefox will intercede with a prompt.
I'm not sure since I trialed HTTPS-only mode for a very short time (like
a couple days) to find out I had too many bookmarks to HTTP sites that
did not attempt to redirect the HTTP connection at the server to an
HTTPS web doc.
Lots of help at torproject.org. For example, it mentions manual
configuration is needed if you use a proxy. Most anti-virus software
operates a transparent proxy on your host through which web traffic
passes.
https://tb-manual.torproject.org/running-tor-browser/
That's as much guessing I'm going to spend on some "not good enough"
problem unless you return to elucidate. I don't use the Tor browser,
and I doubt this newsgroup is where to get in-depth community help on
it. If you want to actually investigate the cause of "not good enough",
perhaps the Tor forums could help you.
https://forum.torproject.org/
Post by Allan HigdonIf I need a browser with extra privacy features, it looks to be a very good alternative.
https://epicbrowser.com/faq
I prefer a locked down Firefox with the uBlock Origin (uBO) extension
which is a far better ad/content blocker than the one built into Epic,
especially with the expert mode in uBO. Epic is always in private
browsing mode. Well, configure Firefox to do the same:
about:preferences#privacy -> History, Always use private browsing mode.
Chrome and Edge-C also have the option: add the -incognito switch to the
command line to load the web browser (I don't know if there is a config
setting for "always incognito" within Chrome since I don't use it). For
Edge-C, use the inprivate command line switch.
Does Epic support DNS over HTTPS (DoH)? Firefox does. However, if a
web client doesn't support DoH, you can configure the OS to use DoH.
Since Epic and Tor run on many OSes, but you didn't mention which one(s)
you use, I won't bother giving instructions other than for Windows 10:
https://winaero.com/how-to-enable-dns-over-https-in-windows-10/
I found that once I eliminated CoPilot from Windows 10 that DoH in
Edge-C became disabled, so I'll have to look into the above article on
how to get my Win10 to use DoH.
Does Epic let you disable pre-fetching (pre-loading web docs references
by hyperlinks in the web doc you are loading)?
https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Dashboard:-Settings#disable-prefetching
uBO makes it easy to disable pre-fetching using a setting in the
extension (which merely changes network.dns.disablePrefetch in
about:config).
Does Epic let you disable hyperlink auditing (the site can tell on which
hyperlink you clicked in their web doc rendered in your local web
client). The above article also mentions hyperlink auditing.
Does Epic let you uncloak canonical names. The following article says
the uBO option is only available for Firefox.
https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Dashboard:-Settings#uncloak-canonical-names
which also refers to:
https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/24/dns_cname_tracking/
Epic's encrypted proxy which connects the web client to Epic's servers,
if enabled, is not private, by design. It can leak data. Well, it used
to. I have not kept up on Epic's proxy. Users that perform leak tests
have been disappointed with Epic's proxy. Tor exit nodes and VPN exit
nodes have been mapped. So have Epic's. The exit nodes can be
blacklisted. Just because you use Tor, a VPN, Epic's proxy, or other
public proxy doesn't mean you'll successfully circumvent geofencing.
The site may use the blacklist to reject your connection from those exit
nodes. You want to stay hidden. The site demands otherwise. Epic used
to use spotflux for a proxy service. I think now they're using Yahoo,
and why Yahoo is whitelisted in their built-in adblocker. Remember that
any entry node to Tor, a VPN, or any proxy can log your visit. The
privacy is not within those networks, but [hopefully] outside their exit
node (and hopefully they don't simply bypass their network for IPv6
traffic since some only support IPv4 traffic).
Epic is not open source. Firefox is. Epic claims they will release
code for auditing, but divert by claiming they are open source in so
much as they are a fork of the open-sourced Chromium project; however,
they aren't just a simple fork of Chromium, so there is changed or
additional code they implemented into Epic. Their proprietary code is
not open source, just the Chromium code used as a basis for their fork.
See:
https://web.archive.org/web/20210707192921/https://www.epicbrowser.com/FAQ.html
The same is true for Chrome. It is based on open-sourced Chromium, but
Google's additions are proprietary, too. For Firefox, and for HTML5
Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) which uses a proprietary DRM module
from Adobe Systems, EME is implemented in an open-source wrapper. Else,
as far as I know and have read, Firefox is wholly free open source
software (FOSS).
Because Epic is a Chromium-based web browser, and because Google directs
the Chromium project, remember that changes Google makes to Chrome are
also reflected in all Chromium forks, like Epic. For example, Google
mandated deprecation and eventual removal of support for Manifest v2 by
supplanting it with Manifest v3. MV3 cripples all ad/content blockers.
uBO came out with a Lite version for use with Chromium web browsers
(https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ublock-origin-lite/ddkjiahejlhfcafbddmgiahcphecmpfh).
LOTS of features in regular uBO disappeared in uBlock Lite, because of
Google foisting MV3 using unfounded and disproven claims. Blocklists
had to be severely truncated due to MV3's much smaller table size, so
there is less filtering available with MV3 of unwanted/untoward web
content. While Firefox claims they will support both MV2 and MV3
extensions, so uBO still works in Firefox, I suspect eventually Mozilla
will drop MV2 support to go the way of Google. All Chromium variants
already have, including Epic.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/08/chromes-manifest-v3-and-its-changes-for-ad-blocking-are-coming-real-soon/
One of the effects of MV3 is Google, even in its variants, can override
any ad/content blocking by extensions. That includes overrides on block
Google sites, like their analytics service that web sites use to gain
telemetry and logistics on how their web sites are used by visitors, or
Google's tag services to assist with web site management, both of which
are used to track their visitors. And there is the Google Ads service.
With MV3, extensions can be overriden: their blocks can be unblocked.
Does Epic let you pick search engines other than Yahoo and their own?
Epic says:
As we've said many times it is impossible for us legally or ethically
to work with a company that makes privacy claims which are dubious
which it refuses to explain -- so we can't work with duckduckgo. Both
Yahoo and DuckDuckGo are powered by Bing results so they have the
exact same search results. We hope to migrate to Yahoo's transparent
private search engine soon which is actually is trustworthy.
(https://forum.epicbrowser.com/viewtopic.php?id=58957)
However, the thread notes a trick to add URLs to other search engines.
You'll have to test to see if it works. I don't use Epic.