HPR4515: Privacy? I don't have anything to hide...

Hacker Public Radio

This show has been flagged as Clean by the host.

Hello, this is your host, Archer72 for Hacker Public Radio

In this episode, what do you have to hide?

This topic was brought to my attention when I came across this video from The Hated One .

This youtube host is extremely privacy focused, and has interesting opinions on not only US privacy and security topics, but also internationally.

This particular video was regarding locking down the settings on Firefox.

The claim besides increasing security is to lower bandwidth and memory usage and double rendering speeds.

While a lot of these steps the author took seemed excessive, they might help you. I use a few of these settings as a takeaway to this video, as well as an extension that I find very useful.

The author is correct in saying that our browsing habits track a lot about your personal life, so here are a few steps that I did follow.

First, I selected Strict Blocking under Content Blocking

 about:preferences#privacy 

Strict blocking Firefox setting

Next, I did not set my history settings to Use custom settings for History and Always use private browsing mode , this is maybe useful for some.

Under Address Bar I left everything unchecked, besides Search Engines

Firefox address bar settings

Next, check the box in Ublock origin settings enable Advance User settings to enable more granular control.

Ublock Origin settings

Ublock Origin granular control

Now, change the default behavior of Ublock origin to

• Block media elements
• Block remote fonts
• Disable JavaScript

By checking the boxes for these items

• Transcript: How to configure Firefox settings for maximum privacy and security

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