11mo ago

Don't see many mentions to Waterfox?

www.waterfox.net

Fast and Private Web Browser

Waterfox is a browser, obviously based on Firefox, but without default "junk" that Firefox comes with.

Don't see many mentions to Waterfox at all in this community? Are there any specific reasons for it? Seems like a neat version of Firefox, with development based out of the UK.

Worthwile blogpost on their independence and future updates: https://www.waterfox.net/blog/waterfox-in-2023/
Project: https://www.waterfox.net
Flathub: https://flathub.org/apps/net.waterfox.waterfox

BuyFromEU @europe.pub

tfm @europe.pub

3w ago

Waterfox is a fork of Firefox and is British-owned

www.waterfox.net

Buy British @feddit.uk

ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝 @feddit.uk

3w ago

Waterfox is a fork of Firefox and is British-owned

www.waterfox.net

Buy European @feddit.uk

Sunshine (she/her) @lemmy.ca

3w ago

Waterfox is a fork of Firefox and is British-owned

www.waterfox.net

48 comments

Using niche browser forks is often not a good idea. These are extremely fast moving projects that need to constantly be updated to stay secure.
This is especially true for Firefox forks, as Firefox allows you to customize it to the point that it is almost the same as many of these forks.
There are exceptions to this - for example, LibreWolf has a fairly good track record and Mullvad Browser needs to fork Firefox to (try) ensure all users have the same fingerprint.
- Definitely a very valid point!
- I feel like this argument is the same argument people use to tell you never to leave the Microsoft ecosystem
  You must use Edge, Office, Defender and Azure
  
  No it's a security and fingerprinting tradeoff.
  The more your browser acts to hide your behaviors and limit tracking, the more unique your fingerprint is. The most private browser setup is one which appears to be identical to all the other traffic in a non unique way, or noise. This definitionally lacks information for tracking.
  Also security flaws and tracking exploits need to be constantly patched.
  This is a fundamental tradeoff for privacy. Using more obscure browsers can (not always) then expose you to behavioral fingerprinting because they look different and react to web pages differently.
  
  Most privacy oriented browsers use popular user agents
  
  It's not just the user agent that fingerprints a user.
  Hence a good most of the exact comment you responded to.

48 comments