Setting up Firefox for Privacy

A guest posting by Andy J from his blog at doug.ee

My browser of choice for privacy is Firefox. There are browsers that are privacy and security focused, but I decided to stick with Firefox with some privacy add-ons (extensions) and some tweaking to the settings. Out of the box Firefox respects your privacy and security, with a few tweaks and add-ons you can improve the security of your browsing. In this article I will show you how to make use of these to help protect yourself.

Privacy Add-ons

Firefox Containers

FaceBook Container

uBlock Origin

HTTPS Everywhere

User Agent Switcher

OneTab

Firefox Preferences and Settings

Preferences

It is recommended to change the default settings to improve the privacy of the browser.

In the Settings menu, check ‘Block new requests from accessing…’ each of the permissions.

Settings

Most privacy settings can be made using the menus, additional changes can be made via the configuration settings. To access the configuration settings you use about:config in the URL bar.

You will receive a warning message, we are not making any changes that will cause any issues with the stability or usability of the browser, select the ‘accept the risks and continue’ button. To navigate the configuration settings it is best to use the search bar.

geo.Enabled: FALSE

This disables Firefox from sharing your location data.

media.navigator.enabled: FALSE

This disables the ability of websites to track you based on the status of the webcam and microphone information.

dom.battery.enabled: FALSE

This setting prevents websites from tracking the battery information and levels that can be used to identify you.

 

extensitions.pocket.enabled: FALSE

This disables the Pocket service. Turn it off if you are not using Pocket.

I hope that you found these interesting and helpful – for more ofmy hints and tips please visit my new blog at doug.ee

Andy J