FireFox Browser Collects Data Sold ? [Solved]

[CharlesV]

Firefox was never sold. They are a non profit group which now relys on ad revenue ever since Google's anti trust lawsuit.
Waterfox was sold to an ad revenue company several years back.

Whenever I install LibreWolf (or Firefox) new, the first thing I do is go into about:config and change these entries.

Code: Select all

Change to FALSE:
devtools.onboarding.telemetry.logged
toolkit.telemetry.hybridContent.enabled
experiments.activeExperiment
experiments.enabled
experiments.supported
network.allow-experiments
media.autoplay.allow-extension-background-pages
dom.private-attribution.submission.enabled


ADDITIONAL FALSE ENTRIES FOR FIREFOX:
toolkit.telemetry.updatePing.enabled
browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.feeds.telemetry
browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.telemetry
browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.telemetry.ut.events
browser.ping-centre.telemetry
toolkit.telemetry.bhrPing.enabled
toolkit.telemetry.enabled
toolkit.telemetry.firstShutdownPing.enabled
toolkit.telemetry.newProfilePing.enabled
toolkit.telemetry.reportingpolicy.firstRun
toolkit.telemetry.shutdownPingSender.enabled
toolkit.telemetry.unified
toolkit.telemetry.updatePing.enabled
toolkit.telemetry.reportingpolicy.firstRun
toolkit.telemetry.unified
toolkit.telemetry.archive.enabled
devtools.onboarding.telemetry.logged
toolkit.telemetry.bhrPing.enabled
datareporting.healthreport.uploadEnabled
datareporting.policy.dataSubmissionEnabled
datareporting.healthreport.uploadEnabled
datareporting.policy.dataSubmissionEnabled


Change to TRUE:
datareporting.sessions.current.clean
media.autoplay.block-event.enabled

REMOVE ENTRY:
toolkit.telemetry.server
toolkit.telemetry.server_owner
browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.telemetry.structuredIngestion.endpoint

DISABLE VIDEO AUTOPLAY:
media.autoplay.default
5
media.autoplay.blocking_policy
2

That is a great list. However, for Firefox a few of those no longer exist.

[siamhie]

Whenever I install LibreWolf (or Firefox) new, the first thing I do is go into about:config and change these entries.

That is a great list. However, for Firefox a few of those no longer exist.

I'm sure some of the entries might no longer be relevant as the date on my file is from 2021. Might install FF and get it updated properly.

[siamhie]

Waterfox was sold to an ad revenue company several years back.

More recently it was sold back to the original developer.

When the dev sold it, I moved on. Must say though, WF was the first 64 bit FF clone
I used back in 2010 when FF themselves didn't offer a 64 bit version.

[txm0523]

Bring back Netscape. For that matter, bring back Balckberry too.

Downloaded and Installed LibreWolf. WIll try that out and see how it's set up and configured.

[operadude]

Great topic, thanks to the OP and the responses

@siamhie

Just went over your list, using the just-updated FF 136.0.

Here is a revised list, based on your original list from your post (viewtopic.php?p=812345#p812345). This list is for all your original references that I found in FF (136.0) today:

Code: Select all

In browser, type "about:config", and:


Change to FALSE:

browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.feeds.telemetry
browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.telemetry
browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.telemetry.ut.events

datareporting.healthreport.uploadEnabled
datareporting.policy.dataSubmissionEnabled
dom.private-attribution.submission.enabled

experiments.activeExperiment
experiments.enabled
experiments.supported

media.autoplay.allow-extension-background-pages

toolkit.telemetry.archive.enabled
toolkit.telemetry.bhrPing.enabled
toolkit.telemetry.enabled
toolkit.telemetry.firstShutdownPing.enabled
toolkit.telemetry.newProfilePing.enabled
toolkit.telemetry.reportingpolicy.firstRun
toolkit.telemetry.shutdownPingSender.enabled
toolkit.telemetry.unified
toolkit.telemetry.updatePing.enabled


Change to TRUE:

media.autoplay.block-event.enabled



REMOVE ENTRY:

browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.telemetry.structuredIngestion.endpoint

toolkit.telemetry.server
toolkit.telemetry.server_owner



DISABLE VIDEO AUTOPLAY:

media.autoplay.default  ==> Change To:  5

media.autoplay.blocking_policy ==> Change To:   2

The only thing I need clarification on is for the "Remove Entry" elements:

When clicking-on the Edit icon for these entries, the Value is highlighted, but there are no options to do anything with the value.

Am I to simply delete the Value for that entry?

Thanks again for your list

[siamhie]

The only thing I need clarification on is for the "Remove Entry" elements:

When clicking-on the Edit icon for these entries, the Value is highlighted, but there are no options to do anything with the value.

Am I to simply delete the Value for that entry?

Thanks again for your list

@operadude Click on the pencil icon on the right side (edit) and delete anything in the field. Then click on the check mark to save it.

[operadude]

The only thing I need clarification on is for the "Remove Entry" elements:

When clicking-on the Edit icon for these entries, the Value is highlighted, but there are no options to do anything with the value.

Am I to simply delete the Value for that entry?

Thanks again for your list

@operadude Click on the pencil icon on the right side (edit) and delete anything in the field. Then click on the check mark to save it.

Thanks

[BV206]

Another way to make mass changes to settings is to use a user.js file in your profile directory.
It also works with Firefox fork browsers and Thunderbird.

If you search for "Firefox user.js" you will find several articles and web sites about it.

Here is mine for example. It contains some things that normal people might not want disabled or changed.
// (two forward slashes) comments out the line or everything after // to the end of the line.
I don't think you can modify or replace user.js while Firefox is running. Some of the articles say that after changes to user.js you should delete the ~/.cache/mozilla folder before starting Firefox.

Code: Select all

//## Custom Settings for Firefox, LibreWolf, Thunderbird
//## Rename this file user.js and copy to the profile folder
//## or append contents to exsiting file

//## Enable userChrome.css (required for tweaks/mods that use a userChrome.css file)
user_pref("toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets", true); // disable when using Lepton
user_pref("svg.context-properties.content.enabled", true); // disable when using Lepton

//## Enable compact mode (0=normal, 1=compact, 2=touch mode)
user_pref("browser.compactmode.show", true); // disable when using Lepton
user_pref("browser.uidensity", 1);

//## Hide browser tabs manager button
user_pref("browser.tabs.tabmanager.enabled", false);

//## Disable tab preview thumbnails
user_pref("browser.tabs.hoverPreview.showThumbnails", false);

//## Disable Pocket
user_pref("extensions.pocket.enabled", false);

//## Disable Sync
user_pref("identity.fxaccounts.enabled", false);

//## Disable recommended extensions
user_pref("extensions.htmlaboutaddons.recommendations.enabled", false);

//## Disable overlay scrollbars
user_pref("widget.gtk.overlay-scrollbars.enabled", false);

//## Make scrollbars thicker
user_pref("widget.non-native-theme.gtk.scrollbar.thumb-size", "1.0");
user_pref("widget.non-native-theme.scrollbar.size.override", 12);

//## Open search in new tab
user_pref("browser.search.openintab", true);

//## Disable Favicons
user_pref("browser.chrome.favicons", false);
user_pref("browser.chrome.site_icons", false);
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.feeds.favicon", false);
user_pref("browser.shell.shortcutFavicons", false);

//## Disable closing on last tab
user_pref("browser.tabs.closeWindowWithLastTab", false);

//## Fix backspace key action in Linux
user_pref("browser.backspace_action", 0);

//## Set display scaling
//user_pref("layout.css.devPixelsPerPx", "-1.0");

//## Set display DPI
user_pref("layout.css.dpi", 0);

//## Set zoom text only
user_pref("browser.zoom.full", false);
//user_pref("browser.zoom.siteSpecific", false);

//## Select all text when clicking the URL bar
user_pref("browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll", true);

//## Disable media autoplay
user_pref("media.autoplay.allow-extension-background-pages", false);
//user_pref("media.autoplay.allow-muted", false);
user_pref("media.autoplay.blocking_policy", 2); // (0=none?, 1=?, 2=gestures needed?)
user_pref("media.autoplay.block-webaudio", true);
user_pref("media.autoplay.default", 5); // (0=allow, 1=block audio, 2=prompt, 5=block audio+video)

//## Prevent web sites from disabling right-click menu & copying
user_pref("dom.event.clipboardevents.enabled", false);
user_pref("dom.event.contextmenu.enabled", false);
user_pref("services.sync.prefs.sync.dom.event.contextmenu.enabled", false);

//## Limit number of network connections (Not needed on high speed/bandwidth networks)
//user_pref("network.websocket.max-connections", 0);

//## Reduce disk activity & disable disk caching
user_pref("browser.cache.disk_cache_ssl", false);
user_pref("browser.cache.disk.capacity", 0);
user_pref("browser.cache.disk.enable", false);
user_pref("browser.cache.disk.filesystem_reported", "");
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacity", 1048576); // (524288 for 512 MB or 1048576 for 1GB)
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.enable", true);
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.max_entry_size", 51200);
user_pref("browser.cache.offline.capacity", 0);
user_pref("browser.cache.offline.enable", false);
user_pref("browser.sessionhistory.max_entries", 10);
user_pref("browser.sessionstore.cleanup.forget_closed_after", 48000000);
user_pref("browser.sessionstore.idleDelay", 48000000);
user_pref("browser.sessionstore.interval.idle", 48000000);
user_pref("browser.sessionstore.interval", 48000000);
user_pref("browser.sessionstore.max_resumed_crashes", 0);
user_pref("browser.sessionstore.max_tabs_undo", 0);
user_pref("browser.sessionstore.max_windows_undo", 0);
user_pref("browser.sessionstore.privacy_level", 2);
user_pref("browser.sessionstore.restore_on_demand", false);
user_pref("browser.sessionstore.resume_from_crash", false);
user_pref("browser.sessionstore.upgradeBackup.maxUpgradeBackups", 0);

//## Disable Telemetry
user_pref("app.normandy.api_url", "");
user_pref("app.normandy.enabled", false);
user_pref("app.normandy.user_id", "");
user_pref("app.shield.optoutstudies.enabled", false);
user_pref("beacon.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.feeds.telemetry", false);
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.telemetry.structuredIngestion.endpoint", "");
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.telemetry", false);
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.unifiedAds.endpoint", "");
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.telemetry.ut.events", false);
user_pref("browser.ping-centre.telemetry", false);
user_pref("browser.search.serpEventTelemetry.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.search.serpEventTelemetryCategorization.enabled", false);
user_pref("datareporting.healthreport.infoURL", "");
user_pref("datareporting.healthreport.uploadEnabled", false);
user_pref("datareporting.policy.dataSubmissionEnabled", false);
user_pref("datareporting.policy.firstRunURL", "");
user_pref("security.protectionspopup.recordEventTelemetry", false);
user_pref("toolkit.coverage.opt-out", true);
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.archive.enabled", false);
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.bhrPing.enabled", false);
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.coverage.opt-out", true);
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.dap.helper.url", "");
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.dap.leader.url", "");
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.enabled", false);
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.firstShutdownPing.enabled", false);
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.newProfilePing.enabled", false);
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.reportingpolicy.firstRun", false);
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.server_owner", "");
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.server", "");
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.shutdownPingSender.enabled", false);
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.unified", false);
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.updatePing.enabled", false);

//## Privacy & Security
user_pref("accessibility.force_disabled", 1);
user_pref("browser.newtabpage.pinned", "");
user_pref("browser.urlbar.speculativeConnect.enabled", false);
user_pref("captivedetect.canonicalURL", "");
user_pref("dom.battery.enabled", false);
user_pref("dom.event.clipboardevents.enabled", false);
user_pref("dom.private-attribution.submission.enabled", false); //default in LibreWolf
user_pref("dom.push.connection.enabled", false);
user_pref("dom.push.enabled", false);
user_pref("dom.push.serverURL", "");
user_pref("dom.push.userAgentID", "");
user_pref("dom.serviceWorkers.enabled", false);
user_pref("extensions.screenshots.disabled", true);
user_pref("geo.enabled", false);
user_pref("geo.provider.geoclue.always_high_accuracy", false);
user_pref("geo.provider.network.url", ""); // Unset or use Mozilla URL below:
//user_pref("geo.provider.network.url", "https://location.services.mozilla.com/v1/geolocate?key=%MOZILLA_API_KEY%");
user_pref("geo.provider.use_geoclue", false);
user_pref("media.navigator.enabled", false);
user_pref("media.peerconnection.enabled", false);
user_pref("network.captive-portal-service.enabled", false);
user_pref("network.connectivity-service.enabled", false);
//user_pref("network.dns.disableIPv6", true); // Not needed if IPv6 disabled in OS
user_pref("network.dns.disablePrefetch", true);
user_pref("network.IDN_show_punycode", true);
user_pref("network.prefetch-next", false);
user_pref("network.trr.exclude-etc-hosts", false);
user_pref("network.trr.mode", 5);
//user_pref("privacy.query_stripping.enabled.pbmode", true); // Not needed with uBo clear URL list
//user_pref("privacy.query_stripping.enabled", true); // Not needed with uBo clear URL list
//user_pref("privacy.trackingprotection.enabled", true);
user_pref("services.sync.prefs.sync.app.shield.optoutstudies.enabled", false);
user_pref("services.sync.prefs.sync.browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.asrouter.userprefs.cfr.addons", false);
user_pref("services.sync.prefs.sync.browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.showSponsored", false);
user_pref("services.sync.prefs.sync.browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.showSponsoredTopSites", false);

//## Change update check intervals
//user_pref("app.update.interval", 28800);
//user_pref("app.update.promptWaitTime", 28800);
//user_pref("extensions.update.interval", 21600);

//## Enable WebRender & Hardware Acceleration
//user_pref("layers.acceleration.force-enabled", true);
//user_pref("media.ffmpeg.vaapi-drm-display.enabled", true);
//user_pref("media.ffmpeg.vaapi.enabled", true);
//user_pref("media.ffvpx.enabled", true);
//user_pref("media.navigator.mediadatadecoder_vpx_enabled", true);
//user_pref("media.rdd-vpx.enabled", true);
//user_pref("security.sandbox.content.level", 0);

//## Disable JavaScript (breaks many web sites)
//user_pref("pdfjs.enableScripting", false);
//user_pref("javascript.enabled", false);

//## Disable WebGL (breaks many web sites)
//user_pref("webgl.disabled", true);

//## These privacy/security tweaks break stuff:
//user_pref("dom.webnotifications.enabled", false); //(breaks stuff)
//user_pref("media.eme.enabled", false); //(Disables DRM/Widevine)
//user_pref("network.http.sendRefererHeader", 0); //(0 breaks Ubuntu login. Default is 2)
//user_pref("privacy.firstparty.isolate", true); //(forgets saved logins)
//user_pref("privacy.resistFingerprinting", true); //(forgets window size, breaks time zone in Thunderbird)

[luigi lins]

I'm using librewolf

The librewolf browser for YouTube has a problem, the browser blocks access to YouTube.

To search, you need to uncheck the box: Query OCSP responder servers to confirm the current validity of certificates, I put the YouTube site as an exception and I didn't get any negative points from the browser.

I like librewolf, it's a fast browser


The rest is better than Firefox, which is lighter and the system isn't slow, even with Firefox turned off, sharing was a bit slow.

[siamhie]

I'm using librewolf

The librewolf browser for YouTube has a problem, the browser blocks access to YouTube.

That depends on how you have uBO setup (which comes installed by default).

To search, you need to uncheck the box: Query OCSP responder servers to confirm the current validity of certificates, I put the YouTube site as an exception and I didn't get any negative points from the browser.

I have mine still checked with no issues with any web sites.