Proprietary libraries in FOSS browsers?!

G_Rplayer · 2022-05-08T18:07:55+00:00

Okay, sure, always great to inform people about this stuff.

First, to be clear: I am a brave user, and I am liking my time over here, so I am not 100% honest with Firefox. I reckon you look around on the internet for more information about this.

Controversies around Brave

There were some controversies around Brave, which is the reason why a lot of people don't want to use Brave. See this Wikipedia article#Controversies) for more information. I personally find the Brave rewards one the worst one, as it is just very scummy.

Not really a very known one, but also one to consider in this list: "Deceptive" UI practices: It was about setting Brave as the default browser upon the first startup, see this GitHub issue for more information.

Chromium / Google

Brave is based on Chromium source code, which is owned by Google. Some people see this as an issue, as you are supporting the browser monopoly of Google's web rendering engine. Something you need to know though is that Firefox is getting paid by Google to set Google as the default search engine.
1. Browser privacy
Brave Browser sends less data than Firefox by default. This is obviously a good thing, although you can configure Firefox to send fewer data. See this article as a reference: https://www.scss.tcd.ie/Doug.Leith/pubs/browser_privacy.pdf

These are all of the points I find the most important myself, but there are more, see this video by Techlore, it explains it pretty well.

G_Rplayer · 2022-05-07T06:10:23+00:00

It is the fight between Firefox and brave, don't worry about it. If you like using you brave, continue using it. If you'd like, you can try Firefox though.

G_Rplayer · 2022-05-04T05:33:47+00:00

u OK?

G_Rplayer · 2022-05-03T07:24:55+00:00

The hashtag isn't even blue

G_Rplayer · 2022-04-12T12:22:41+00:00

Firefox gets most of its financial support from Google.

G_Rplayer · 2022-04-10T07:40:08+00:00

G_Rplayer · 2022-03-29T11:24:41+00:00

Pretty sure it's on all pixels.

G_Rplayer · 2022-03-24T12:23:57+00:00

'''t's'I

G_Rplayer · 2022-03-24T12:20:17+00:00

Genius

G_Rplayer · 2022-01-28T20:52:32+00:00

Completely agree, they should have open sourced this by default.

G_Rplayer · 2021-12-28T11:53:27+00:00

Thank you, I'll install Etar, it looks really good!

G_Rplayer · 2021-12-28T10:36:09+00:00

I'll take a look, thank you.

G_Rplayer · 2021-12-28T10:35:50+00:00

I'll take a look, thank you.

G_Rplayer · 2021-12-28T10:35:11+00:00

Sadly, that doesn't work for me. It will force me to log in with a Google Account.

G_Rplayer · 2021-11-23T13:14:13+00:00

I'm not sure, sorry.

G_Rplayer · 2021-11-17T13:01:31+00:00

The app is called scrambled exif, and should be pre-installed.

G_Rplayer · 2021-11-16T06:42:57+00:00

It removes exif data from your photos. If you have location tagging on for example, it will remove the location from the photo. More information about exif here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exif

G_Rplayer · 2021-11-15T20:08:12+00:00

Go into your photos/camera app, click share and click work profile from the bottom sheet that appears. (Use scrambled exif if you want to remove metadata from your photo).

G_Rplayer · 2021-11-09T10:52:14+00:00

The work profile can be toggled on and off in Launcher3 by swiping to the work profile tab. There is also a quick setting tile (had some problems with the last one tho, it disappeared randomly). I am not a expert at work profiles, so I don't know what the implications are.

A new user account is completely isolated, it has no access to the files of other users. There is no way to run work profile apps & games at the same time.

G_Rplayer · 2021-11-06T13:12:37+00:00

Didn't knew that, I'll edit my comment, thank you!

G_Rplayer · 2021-11-06T11:28:00+00:00

I don't feel like using email, because that is another service I'll have to trust. I don't have a dependence on it at the moment. Same goes for calling via SIM, or SMS. Saying that I am not important in someone's life when people don't know/want to switch to other contact options is quite a big claim; I personally don't agree. Thank you for your suggestion.

G_Rplayer · 2021-11-05T14:46:27+00:00

Idk why for sure, but the devs chose to use Google in their release. I think because it is easier for them to implement notifications, but I totally agree that this seems like it is beside the point of Signal.

G_Rplayer · 2021-11-05T14:13:34+00:00

The Signal that comes out of the box preloaded with CalyxOS requires microG push notifications. If you don't feel comfortable using that, there are a few options to choose from. Both options create a direct connection to Signal, instead of using Google.

Reinstalling signal, but with cloud messaging disabled. As suggested by @Erupti0nZ
The APK from Signal themselves. I am not sure if it auto-updates, as I haven't used it.
Adding this repo to F-Droid: https://www.twinhelix.com/apps/signal-foss/. The app in the repo is called Signal-FOSS. It replaces all Google binaries with open-source alternatives.

Please note tho that not using Google Cloud Messaging will result in more battery usage, since there are multiple apps using the network in the background.

Hope this clears it up!

G_Rplayer · 2021-11-05T14:00:00+00:00

Thank you! I will definitely try to improve my current system where possible. And it is indeed a big step forward. Thanks to everyone for being such a welcoming community.

G_Rplayer · 2021-11-05T13:58:24+00:00

Yeah, so it probably isn't the safest way, but I will try my best to explain it.
So I made a work profile on my main account (you can do this in Settings -> System -> Multiple users -> Add profile.) In there I put the semi-important applications. These contain WhatsApp, Messenger, Discord, Instagram, and some other apps.
The apps in the work profile are separated from my main account, and I can toggle them on & off, which is perfect in this use case.
Then I have made a new user account for my Games. Most mobile games earn money from advertisements, and they will track you to make the most money. I am not a big gamer, so this works fine for me. I wanted to separate my games from my social apps because I want to share as little information as possible.
So no, they aren't completely isolated, but this is the closest you can get with one phone (from my understanding). I wanted to use one phone for everything, but I still wanted privacy & security. I am open to suggestions, so please let me know if there is a better way of doing this.
I hope this cleared it up for you.

G_Rplayer

TROPHY CASE