this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023
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LibreWolf

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Welcome to the official community for LibreWolf.

LibreWolf is designed to increase protection against tracking and fingerprinting techniques, while also including a few security improvements. LibreWolf also aims to remove all the telemetry, data collection and annoyances, as well as disabling anti-freedom features like DRM. If you have any question please visit our FAQ first: https://librewolf.net/docs/faq/

To learn more or to download the browser visit the website: https://librewolf.net/

If you want to contribute head over to our Codeberg: https://codeberg.org/librewolf

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LibreWolf doesn't resist fingerprinting effectively (without Canvas Blocker extension) (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by illectrility@sh.itjust.works to c/librewolf@lemmy.ml
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Fingerprint.com allows you to test web fingerprinting. This is a more advanced method of tracking individuals throughout the web without the need of cookies.

~~Mozilla~~ The Tor Project developed a pretty effective ~~toll~~ tool against this called resistFingerprinting. It can be enabled in about:config. LibreWolf has this feature enabled by default. Sadly, it doesn't really work.

On Firefox you can visit fingerprint.com in a private window with resistFingerprinting enabled and after closing the private window and visiting fingerprint.com again, there will be a new id meaning that you have not been tracked.

~~On LibreWolf you can do the exact same thing but the same id will show up every time. Is there a way to configure LibreWolf to be more effective at resisting fingerprinting?~~

On LibreWolf you can do the exact same thing but the same id will show up everytime. To get the same functionality as Firefox you need to install the Canvas Blocker extension.

Original title of this post: LibreWolf doesn't resist fingerprinting effectively

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[–] carloshr@lile.cl 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm testing in #librewolf latest release (v116.0-1) and I got different fingerprint ID when I open fringerprint.com in a private window and then I close and open it in a normal window.
Is your librewolf updated?

@illectrility @librewolf

[–] illectrility@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

My LibreWolf is updated to version 116.0-1 (64-bit) and fingerprint.com still shows the exact same ID. I even wiped the installation and clean-installed it. (Which did give me a new ID). Which OS are you running LibreWolf on? I'm on Linux

[–] carloshr@lile.cl 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

@illectrility @librewolf
I'm on windows 11

[–] illectrility@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

I update it regularly but I'll check

[–] Illecors@lemmy.cafe 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This feels like the solution is in the definition of the problem. Why not stick to Firefox?

[–] illectrility@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

LibreWolf has some nice things going for it. A lot of privacy stuff is pre-configured and it saves time that way but yeah, if stuff like this simply doesn't work I'll be going back to Firefox asap

[–] eddlestonian@noc.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@illectrility @Illecors Some website logins don't work e.g.duolingo

[–] illectrility@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There is an extension that adds a button to toggle the fingerprinting resistance. You can look for it at about:addons

[–] byte1000@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What if the site was even able to fingerprint my Tor browser?

I didn't change anything in the browser settings menu. Only thing I did after loading the site for the first time was to click "block canvas fingerprinting".

I'm on Windows 11 BTW.

[–] illectrility@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It can't track my TOR Browser when I close it, open it up again and go back to fingerprint.com

[–] byte1000@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I did that, several times. I tried it natively on Tor Browser for Windows 11. I also tried it in a virtual machine on Tor browser for TailsOS.

On Tails, only resetting the VM did manage to prevent fingerprint(dot)com from tracking the browser, just closing and opening the browser up did not.

[–] illectrility@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

That is weird. For me even the New Identity button does the trick. It not working on Tails is weird to me, too.

[–] byte1000@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 year ago

Well, you use Linux, maybe Win11 is screwing me in that case.

[–] fishonthenet@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

https://librewolf.net/docs/testing/ says:

These tests are not intended to be used as oracles, but rather as a way to check your setup and verify that your changes are applied. You should not read too much into the results unless you are sure you understand them, as explained in this article.

https://blog.pastly.net/posts/2019-01-19-about-to-use-tor/#testing-your-fingerprint

BTW I commented about this in the past, see https://gitlab.com/librewolf-community/browser/windows/-/issues/276#note_1137125815

[–] Maldreamer@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

i tested on firefox and the id is different, my friend who is on librewolf tested it and got the same result as yours, but then he tested again with the canvas blocker extension and that seems to give different ID. can you also check with that extension on

[–] illectrility@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

Yes! It works with the extension. Still weird that it doesn't natively do it