From 7bb83e81588be13db7e374e26d60a7df88049e4b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Rohan Kumar Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2023 13:52:11 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] New note: fingerprinting and customization --- .../notes/fingerprinting-and-customization.md | 19 +++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 19 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/notes/fingerprinting-and-customization.md diff --git a/content/notes/fingerprinting-and-customization.md b/content/notes/fingerprinting-and-customization.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3a26e02 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/notes/fingerprinting-and-customization.md @@ -0,0 +1,19 @@ +--- +title: "Fingerprinting and customization" +date: 2023-08-28T13:52:11-07:00 +replyURI: "https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/40337#note_2936949" +replyTitle: "Wouldn't, say, installing the Dark Reader extension have much less of a privacy impact than disabling RFP altogether?" +replyType: "DiscussionForumPosting" +replyAuthor: "Allium" +replyAuthorURI: "https://gitlab.torproject.org/Allium" +--- + +These addons work by injecting or altering stylesheets in the page, and are trivially detectable. A good rule of thumb is that if it can trigger a CSP violation in the developer console, it is trivial to detect with JavaScript. + +(FWIW: I believe the Tor Browser does disable the Reporting API, so I think some JavaScript will be necessary). + +On "safest" mode with remote JavaScript disabled, certain "dark mode" addons *might* be safe. I think a better long-term solution would be the ability to "freeze" a page: a button or something to prevent the current page from initiating further requests (it's already loaded), running scripts, accessing storage, etc. In this state, a user could use any addons or fingerprinting-compromising settings without risk. + +A good point of comparison is Reader Mode: a user's preferred Reader Mode fonts, line-width, color scheme, etc. aren't fingerprinting vectors. It should be able to stop a site from phoning home or writing to client-side storage to allow for similar levels of customization outside Reader Mode. + +Other sources of inspiration could be the expected behavior for the [`scripting: initial-only` media query](https://drafts.csswg.org/mediaqueries-5/#scripting), and Firefox's built-in "Work Offline" setting.