I think Arc is a very interesting browser. I’ve tried using it on and off, but I have read a few blogs/posts that suggest it’s not very privacy forward. One of my biggest pet peeves with it is that it’s built on Chromium, and it requires you to have an account/login. Here’s a great privacy review, my apologies if you’ve seen it already: adam.kostarelas.com/…/arc-browser-privacy-check/
With chromium being poisoned last year and Mozilla trying to diversify away from Firefox, I’m starting to wonder what browser I should be using in the near future. So I’d really like to hear some opinions on arc browser!
Here’s a random article on the topic to get you started.
Basically Google is destroying anonymous web browsing by embedding finger printing in chromium. Certain trusted servers will track your identity and report whether or not it trusts you.
It’s actually very similar to how Single Sign On and identity providers work. Except you aren’t choosing to use it with a “login with Facebook” or similar button. It’s forced on you by the browser
This article only mentions Chrome, not Chromium. So I looked it up and found this:
“Web Environment Integrity (WEI) is an abandoned API proposal previously under development for Google Chrome.[1] A Web Environment Integrity prototype existed in Chromium,[2][3] but was removed in November 2023 after extensive criticism by many tech groups.[4]”
They’re saying they don’t understand open source at all. They’re saying someone must stop the highly regarded and useful personal project they’ve been working on for years prior to being hired by evil corp (it is because Peter Thiel). They’re saying they don’t know how to read the results of the tests. Etc.
Well first, let’s stay on the topic of a huge ethical conflict of interest. Do you understand why that’s a problem, and how conflicts of interests have been abused throughout history?
Well, there’s a good chance that most people who present technical information publicly are probably involved somewhere in the tech space. Pretty sure the owner of that site also has a disclaimer stating that he in fact works for Brave.
More directly, is the information on that website inaccurate? Could any other person create a similar website with the same information? Has anyone?
True facts don’t change based on who presents them. Every time I see this “oh don’t trust the Brave employee” it’s usually someone who is mad that FF isn’t the best in whatever category.
There is none. This is a personal project. It has been long before brave. The source code is there. All previous results are there. All methods used are there. They make it well known their current employment.
Oh, did I mention you can run the same tests because the whole thing is OPEN SOURCE.?
This doesn’t address my question about how to rationally think about conflicts of interest.
Well, there’s a good chance that most people who present technical information publicly are probably involved somewhere in the tech space.
Seems like a bad assumption. Do you trust a scientist paid by BP to tell you how safe BP fuel is for the environment? Do you trust Mark Zuckerberg to tell the United States how private Facebook is?
And after you employ some critical thinking there, maybe your responses will dictate how you would see the presentation of statistics, and whether a dishonest paid actor would be likely to overstate things that make their employer look good and understate things that made their employer look bad, while technically not lying as far as the law is concerned.
LibreWolf does seem to go a bit too far with the hardening. It’s fine if you’re used to Tor Browser or Mull Browser but as a general recommendation… ehh.
Librewolf gives you options, and if you don’t want to toggle them on, you’re free to do so. I vehemently disagree with your analysis and I believe the protection that Librewolf provides should be considered bare-minimum in this age. This should be the default browser, not Firefox
If you think so, the extra features can be disabled from the settings, because LW added an extra section for them too… No hunting through about:config.
Arc is Chromium based. In other words, you’re still using Chrome/Chromium.
Firefox and Safari are the only two browsers (seemingly) left on the market with their own rendering engines. (Gecko and WebKit respectively)
So while things are fucking bad at Mozilla, it’s important to try to get people to use Firefox so market share will increase enough that Mozilla won’t want to diversify away from Firefox. I know that’s living on hopes and dreams, but that’s better than just rolling over and letting Google take over the modern world-wide web.
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