who/what to trust in 2022?
it’s hard…
“A February 2020 research report published by the School of Computer Science and Statistics at Trinity College Dublin tested six browsers and deemed Brave to be the most private of them, in terms of phoning home: “In the first (most private) group lies Brave, in the second Chrome, Firefox and Safari, and in the third (least private) group lie Edge and Yandex.”[108] (src)
“From a privacy perspective Microsoft Edge and Yandex are qualitatively different from the other browsers studied.”
“Both send persistent identifiers that can be used to link requests (and associated IP address/location) to backend servers.”
“Edge also sends the hardware UUID of the device to Microsoft and Yandex similarly transmits a hashed hardware identifier to back end servers.”
“As far as we can tell this behaviour cannot be disabled by users.”
“In addition to the search autocomplete functionality that shares details of web pages visited, both transmit web page information to servers that appear unrelated to search autocomplete.”
(src: arstechnica.com)
alternative Browsers for Mobile OS: Android
https://privacytests.org/android.html
https://privacytests.org/ios.html
- https://github.com/bromite/bromite
- “Bromite aims at providing a no-clutter browsing experience without privacy-invasive features and with the addition of a fast ad-blocking engine. Minimal UI changes are applied to help curbing the idea of “browser as an advertisement platform”.
- https://f-droid.org/en/packages/us.spotco.fennec_dos/
- Privacy oriented web browser
- This is a privacy oriented and deblobbed web browser based on Mozilla technology. It enables many features upstreamed by the Tor Uplift project using preferences from the arkenfox-user.js project. It is recommended to install ‘uBlock Origin’.
- src: https://gitlab.com/divested-mobile/mull-fenix
alternative Browsers for Desktop OS:
update 2022-04
https://librewolf.net/docs/faq/
just for completion:
(currently best Browser in terms of privacy according to https://privacytests.org <- check em out they got a ton of alternative browsers also mobile)
(based on Google’s https://www.chromium.org/)
how to install for various GNU Linux distributions: https://brave.com/linux/
update 2020-10
(untested)
“Vivaldi is a freeware, cross-platform web browser developed by Vivaldi Technologies, a company founded by Opera Software co-founder and former CEO Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner and Tatsuki Tomita” <- if that is a good thing… probably not.
Given the Kremlin’s naming convention “Wagner” (the Russian mercenary group killing around the globe like Ukraine but also Africa).
Antonio Vivaldi would be (almost obviously) just another classic music composer in their naming scheme (correct if wrong!?).
“The browser was officially launched on April 12, 2016.[8][9] The browser is aimed at staunch technologists, heavy Internet users, and previous Opera web browser users disgruntled by Opera’s transition from the Presto layout engine to the Blink layout engine, which removed many popular features.[8][10] Vivaldi aims to revive the old, popular features of Opera 12.[11] The browser has gained popularity since the launch of its first technical preview.[12][13] The browser has 1 million users as of January 2017.[14]”
the bigger problem with Opera might be this: the Russian Yandex SDK:
- “A development kit for applications offered for free by Yandex, the Russian tech giant, collects information, which is then stored on Russian servers.”
- “The proximity between the company and the Kremlin raises questions about the end use of this data.”
- “Your personal data probably ends up on Russian servers.”
- “On Tuesday, March 29, the British daily Financial Times revealed that tens of thousands of applications have been developed using software that retrieves users’ information.”
- “The computer tool is provided by Yandex, a Russian search engine, Google’s main competitor in this country.”
- “The recovered data is then stored in servers in Russia and Finland.”
- “In the clutches of the Kremlin AppMetrica’s “open access” makes it one of the most used tools on the market: 36% of applications on Google Play go through this SDK and 11% on the App Store according to Appfigures.”
- “Among the services offered are video games, messaging apps and virtual private networks (VPNs), designed to browse the web without being tracked.”
- “7x VPN apps are offered specifically for the Ukrainian public, according to financial times.”
- “In total, it would be applications installed hundreds of millions of times that would be affected.”
- auto translated from (src: numerama.com)
(… Google & Apple would NEVER do such things…. NEVER (right? X-D))
# -> what are those files doing INSIDE tor-browser bundle folder #wtf?
./tor-browser_en-US/Browser/.config/vivaldi
./tor-browser_en-US/Browser/.cache/vivaldi
./tor-browser_en-US/Browser/.local/share/.vivaldi_reporting_data
/home/user/.cache/vivaldi
/home/user/.config/vivaldi
/home/user/.local/share/.vivaldi_reporting_data
{"description":"This file contains data used for counting users.
If you are worried about privacy implications,
please see https://help.vivaldi.com/article/how-we-count-our-users/",
"installation_time":"XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX","next_daily_ping":"XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
"next_monthly_ping":"XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX","next_semestrial_ping":"XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
"next_trimestrial_ping":"XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
"next_weekly_ping":"XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
"next_yearly_ping":"XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
"pings_since_last_month":0,"unique_user_id":"XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"}
Arora
it’s always a good idea to try out alternatives. 🙂 Welcome to Arora: (under Debian-Gnome3)
is a lightweight, cross-platform, free and open-source web browser
Arora is available for Linux, OS X, Windows, FreeBSD, OS/2, Haiku,[6] and any other operating system supported by the Qt toolkit. Arora’s name is a palindrome.
The browser’s features include tabbed browsing, bookmarks, browsing history, smart location bar, OpenSearch, session management, privacy mode, a download manager, WebInspector, and AdBlock.[7]
For several months, Meyer discontinued development of Arora due to uncertainty about the strictures of non-compete clauses by his employer; finally in July 2011, he announced that he would no longer contribute to the project.[8] Another software developer, Bastien Pederencino forked Arora’s source code, and published a variant called zBrowser – renamed Zeromus Browser in February 2013. In May 2013, Pederencino published another variant called BlueLightCat. In February 2014, some new patches were released on Arora’s github project page, with some Linux distributions incorporating the changes in their individual versions of Arora packages in their repositories.[9]
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arora_(web_browser)
install
under Debian it’s easy as the usual:
apt-get update; # update apt package definitions apt-get install arora; # install arora browser
Nice features:
- fast, sleak, efficient, webkit without Google influenced Firefox (they get millions for making Google the default search engine…)
- JavaScript and Images can be easily disabled
- AdBlock INCLUDED 🙂
- Nice Page-loading %percentage% view
- Excellent https://startpage.com/ / https://ixquick.com/ integration 🙂
- You can use all the Firefox-Hotkeys like Alt+D to select the Adress-Bar
I really love that loading %percentage display, that also shows you how big and bulky a website is: (maybe disable grafics or js) 
Nicely: Easy to disable image loading (speed up things) and javascript (security problem)
It has Adblock INCLUDED! 🙂 No extension needed! GOOD JOB!
Midori
Midori is a cross-platform GTK browser based on Webkit. It tracks the latest Webkit very closely, so you always have a fresh version. Midori is very lightweight and fast, but still has a lot of features. Midori is amazingly quick and can be useful for sites like Facebook which tend to slow down Firefox. Users concerned about privacy will be interested to know that Midori features Duck Duck Go as the default search engine, offers built-in ad blocking and good cookie control. An old version (0.4.3) is currently included with Ubuntu 13.10, so it is recommended that you install from the Midori PPA.
SETUP:
tested on debian:
apt-get update; apt-get install midori; # let's test this ;)
QupZilla
QupZilla is a fast Qt and Webkit based browser that is available for multiple operating systems. It features a reasonably simple interface that will seem familiar to new users. The browser is packed with options, but really offers nothing new or unique when compared to Firefox or Chromium. The QupZilla team has put together a really solid browser, but without offering something unique, I find myself asking “what’s the point?” Install Now
IceCat
GNU IceCat, formerly known as GNU IceWeasel,[3] is a free software rebranding of the Mozilla Firefox web browser distributed by the GNU Project. It is compatible with Linux, Windows, Android and macOS.[4]
IceCat is released as a part of GNUzilla, GNU’s rebranding of a code base that used to be the Mozilla Application Suite. As an internet suite, GNUzilla also includes a mail & newsgroup program and an HTML composer.
Mozilla produces free and open-source software, but the binaries include trademarked artwork. The GNU Project attempts to keep IceCat in synchronization with upstream development of Firefox (long-term support versions) while removing all trademarked artwork and non-free add-ons. It also maintains a large list of free software plugins. In addition, it features a few security features not found in the mainline Firefox browser.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_IceCat
what is in the GNU Linux Debian (free) repo?
searching the (free) Debian 11 apt repository in 2022-05 gives:
su - root apt update apt-cache search browser|grep web # gives: amule-gnome-support - ed2k links handling support for GNOME web browsers libjs-angularjs - lets you write client-side web applications as if you had a smarter browser libapache2-mod-upload-progress - upload progress support for the Apache web server elpa-atomic-chrome - edit a web-browser text entry area with Emacs bluefish - advanced Gtk+ text editor for web and software development webext-browserpass - web extension for the password manager pass webext-bulk-media-downloader - Cross-browser extension to detect and download media resources chrome-gnome-shell - GNOME Shell extensions integration for web browsers chromium - web browser (https://www.chromium.org/Home/) chromium-common - web browser - common resources used by the chromium packages chromium-driver - web browser - WebDriver support chromium-l10n - web browser - language packs chromium-sandbox - web browser - setuid security sandbox for chromium chromium-shell - web browser - minimal shell cog - Single-window web browser based on WPE WebKit dillo - Small and fast web browser doc-central - web-based documentation browser dpkg-www - Debian package management web interface edbrowse - /bin/ed-alike webbrowser written in C epiphany-browser - Intuitive GNOME web browser epiphany-browser-data - Data files for the GNOME web browser falkon - lightweight web browser based on Qt WebEngine firefox-esr - Mozilla Firefox web browser - Extended Support Release (ESR) # ... would actually manually download it, so the user get's the latest version # including Mozilla's own in-firefox-update functionality (click on Help -> About Firefox) # https://download-installer.cdn.mozilla.net/pub/firefox/releases/100.0/linux-x86_64/ fontcustom - custom icon webfonts from the comfort of the command line webext-form-history-control - extension to manage form history gambas3-gb-qt5-webkit - Gambas WebKit component golang-github-toqueteos-webbrowser-dev - Convenient Web-browser controller library for Go guacd - HTML5 web application for accessing remote desktops (proxy daemon) libguac-client-rdp0 - HTML5 web application for accessing remote desktops (RDP support) libguac-client-ssh0 - HTML5 web application for accessing remote desktops (SSH support) libguac-client-telnet0 - HTML5 web application for accessing remote desktops (Telnet support) libguac-client-vnc0 - HTML5 web application for accessing remote desktops (VNC support) libguac19 - HTML5 web application for accessing remote desktops (library) libghc-open-browser-dev - open a web browser from Haskell libghc-open-browser-doc - open a web browser from Haskell; documentation libghc-open-browser-prof - open a web browser from Haskell; profiling libraries libghc-wai-handler-launch-dev - WAI handler for launching in a web browser hoteldruid - web-based property management system for hotels or B&Bs libhttpunit-java - automated web site testing toolkit httrack - Copy websites to your computer (Offline browser) proxytrack - Build HTTP Caches using archived websites copied by HTTrack webhttrack - Copy websites to your computer, httrack with a Web interface jdim - simple browser for "2ch-style" web forum sites libjs-jquery-reflection - jQuery plugin to add reflection effects to images in webpages node-webidl-conversions - web IDL type conversions on JavaScript values - Node.js library jwchat - full featured, web-based Jabber chat client webext-keepassxc-browser - Web browser extension to organize web site credentials in KeePassXC konq-plugins - plugins for Konqueror, the KDE file/web/document browser konqueror - advanced file manager, web browser and document viewer ldap-account-manager - webfrontend for managing accounts in an LDAP directory lektor - Python-based static website generator libgtk3-webkit2-perl - WebKit2 bindings for Perl libhtml-clean-perl - Cleans up HTML code for web browsers, not humans libhttp-recorder-perl - Perl module to record interaction with websites libjs-webrtc-adapter - shim to insulate apps from WebRTC quirks - browser library node-webrtc-adapter - shim to insulate apps from WebRTC quirks - Node.js library libjson-webtoken-perl - JSON Web Token (JWT) implementation libphp-snoopy - Snoopy is a PHP class that simulates a web browser libpod-webserver-perl - miniature web server for reading Pod in web browsers libweasel-perl - PHP's Mink inspired multi-protocol web-testing library for Perl libweb-id-perl - implementation of WebID (a.k.a. FOAF+SSL) luakit - fast and small web browser extensible by Lua lynx - classic non-graphical (text-mode) web browser man2html - browse man pages in your web browser midori - fast, lightweight graphical web browser mongrel2-core - programming language agnostic web server (binaries) mongrel2-run - programming language agnostic web server libmono-webbrowser4.0-cil - Mono Web Browser library (for CLI 4.0) netsurf-common - small web browser with CSS support common files netsurf-fb - small web browser with CSS support for framebuffers netsurf-gtk - small web browser with CSS support for GTK nginx-core - nginx web/proxy server (standard version) nginx-extras - nginx web/proxy server (extended version) nginx-full - nginx web/proxy server (standard version with 3rd parties) libjs-async - functions and patterns for asynchronous code - web browsers node-babel-loader - babel module loader for webpack node-coffee-loader - coffee loader module for webpack node-compression-webpack-plugin - Prepare compressed versions of assets node-copy-webpack-plugin - Copy files and directories in webpack node-css-loader - css loader module for webpack node-domain-browser - Node's domain module for the web browser node-events - Node.js events module to embed by web packers node-exports-loader - exports loader module for webpack node-grunt-webpack - Use webpack with grunt node-json-loader - json loader for webpack fonts-katex - Fast math typesetting for the web (fonts) katex - Fast math typesetting for the web (command line interface) libjs-katex - Fast math typesetting for the web (for browsers) node-less-loader - Less loader for webpack which compiles Less to CSS with webpack node-loader-runner - Runs (webpack) loaders libjs-lunr - simple full-text search - web browsers node-raw-loader - raw loader module for webpack node-stats-webpack-plugin - Write the stats of a build to a file node-style-loader - style loader module for webpack node-url-loader - url loader module for webpack node-vue-style-loader - Vue.js style loader module for webpack webpack - Packs CommonJs/AMD modules for the browser node-webpack-sources - Source code handling classes for webpack libjs-websocket - WebSocket implementation for NodeJS, standalone API for browser node-websocket-stream - use websockets with the node streams API in browser and node node-worker-loader - worker loader module for webpack nut-cgi - network UPS tools - web interface libjs-openlayers - JavaScript library for displaying map data in web browsers pgn2web - convert PGN chess game files into webpages php-horde-webmail - Horde Groupware Webmail Edition phpliteadmin - web-based SQLite database admin tool phpliteadmin-themes - web-based SQLite database admin tool - themes piperka-client - Mobile oriented web comics reader client webext-proxy-switcher - Modify Proxy Settings for your Browser python3-pyqt5.qtwebkit - Python 3 bindings for Qt5's WebKit module python3-pyqt5.qtwebkit-dbg - Python 3 bindings for Qt5's WebKit module (debug extensions) python3-pyqt5.qtwebengine - Python 3 bindings for Qt5's WebEngine module python3-pyqt5.qtwebengine-dbg - Python 3 bindings for Qt5's WebEngine module (debug extensions) python3-mechanize - stateful programmatic web browsing python3-webview - Build GUI for your Python program with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS python3-w3lib - Collection of web-related functions (Python 3) libqt5webengine-data - Web content engine library for Qt - Data libqt5webengine5 - Web content engine library for Qt libqt5webenginecore5 - Web content engine library for Qt - Core libqt5webenginewidgets5 - Web content engine library for Qt - Widget qml-module-qtwebengine - Qt WebEngine QML module qtwebengine5-dev - Web content engine library for Qt - development files qtwebengine5-examples - Qt WebEngine - Examples qtwebengine5-private-dev - Web content engine library for Qt - private development files libqt5webkit5 - Web content engine library for Qt libqt5webkit5-dev - Web content engine library for Qt - development files qml-module-qtwebkit - Qt WebKit QML module libqt5webview5 - display web content in a QML application - Library libqt5webview5-dev - display web content in a QML application - Development Files qml-module-qtwebview - display web content in a QML application qtwebview5-doc - display web content in a QML application - Documentation qtwebview5-doc-html - display web content in a QML application - HTML Documentation qtwebview5-examples - display web content in a QML application - Examples qutebrowser-qtwebengine - QtWebEngine backend dependency package for qutebrowser qutebrowser-qtwebkit - QtWebKit backend dependency package for qutebrowser r-cran-plotly - create interactive web graphics via 'plotly.js' in GNU R roundcube - skinnable AJAX based webmail solution for IMAP servers - metapackage roundcube-core - skinnable AJAX based webmail solution for IMAP servers roundcube-plugins - skinnable AJAX based webmail solution for IMAP servers - plugins roundcube-plugins-extra - skinnable AJAX based webmail solution - extra plugins ruby-faye - Simple pub/sub messaging for the web ruby-webkit2-gtk - WebKitGTK+ bindings for the Ruby language ruby-launchy-shim - helper class for launching a web browser ruby-selenium-webdriver - Browser automation framework and ecosystem ruby-turbolinks - following links in your Rails web application faster ruby-web-console - Ruby on Rails debugger ruby-webpack-rails - Webpack & Rails integration made easier smb2www - SMB/CIFS network client with a web interface sqwebmail-de - German translations for the SqWebMail webmail service sugar-browse-activity - Sugar Learning Platform - web browsing activity surf - Simple web browser by suckless community Description: Simple web browser by suckless community surf is a simple web browser based on WebKit/GTK+. It is able to display websites and follow links. It supports the XEmbed protocol which makes it possible to embed it in another application. Furthermore, one can point surf to another URI by setting its XProperties. php-symfony-browser-kit - simulate the behavior of a web browser hv3 - Lightweight web browser webext-treestyletab - Show browser tabs like a tree tt-rss - Tiny Tiny RSS - web-based news feed (RSS/Atom) aggregator vdetelweb - Telnet and Web interface for VDE 2.x libjs-webcomponentsjs-custom-element-v0 - CustomElements polyfill from the webcomponentsjs project webdruid - Web server log file analysis tool libwebkit2-sharp-4.0-cil - CLI bindings for WebKitGTK+ 4.0 using GObject Introspection libwebkit2-sharp-4.0-cil-dev - CLI bindings for WebKitGTK+ 4.0 using GObject Introspection - development python3-websocket - WebSocket client library - Python 3.x gir1.2-webkit2-4.0 - Web content engine library for GTK - GObject introspection data libwebkit2gtk-4.0-37 - Web content engine library for GTK libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev - Web content engine library for GTK - development files libwebkit2gtk-4.0-doc - Web content engine library for GTK - documentation webkit2gtk-driver - WebKitGTK WebDriver support
QupZilla 1.6.6 on Debian-Gnome3
install
debian linux
apt-get update; # you know what this does apt-get install qupzilla; # install qupzilla
Screenshots
Import Bookmarks.html
it’s nice that Arora and QupZilla (the naming is terrible 2 remember :-D) allow importing Firefox/Iceweasel exported bookmarks.html.
QupZilla even gets all the website Icons for you….
Web (Epiphany)
Web (formerly Epiphany) is the official web browser of the GNOME desktop. It is a very easy to use Webkit based browser with a simplistic user interface. In fact, Web is like the granddaddy of simple web browsers, delivering a simple user interface years before Chrome came on the scene. The browser is very speedy and polished, offering more features with each release. Web makes a great simple alternative to Firefox and Chrome. Install Now
Bash / Command Line Browsers 🙂
Elinks
Elinks is a text based browser similar to the classic Lynx browser. It launches inside a Terminal window and presents you with only the text of websites, no images, javascript, or Flash. This can be rather useful for website developers to test their sites, or for reading information on sites that are full of annoying javascript and Flash ads.
that’s what http://google.de looks like in elinks:
Source: https://www.starryhope.com/10-alternative-browsers-for-ubuntu-linux/
Links:
http://www.linuxuser.co.uk/reviews/arora-web-browser-review
Other alternative fast / lightweight browsers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_lightweight_web_browsers
https://sourceforge.net/projects/zbrowser-linux/
https://sourceforge.net/projects/bluelightcat/
how to get (a bit) more privacy:
liked this article?
- only together we can create a truly free world
- plz support dwaves to keep it up & running!
- (yes the info on the internet is (mostly) free but beer is still not free (still have to work on that))
- really really hate advertisement
- contribute: whenever a solution was found, blog about it for others to find!
- talk about, recommend & link to this blog and articles
- thanks to all who contribute!
