Comment by smashed
3 years ago
The solution is very easy for consumers looking for a real privacy solution:
Use a browser that is not made by an advertising company.
In other words, just drop chrome. It has never been easier to do, with Edge and Safari readily available on all major platforms and Firefox for those who prefer it, and of course the many other chromium forks that are around.
There is no reason to be dependent on chrome today. There was a few years where it was overly dominant and very hard to avoid for compatibility and performance reasons, but that is just not true today.
Personally I use Firefox on android and desktop and I don't miss chrome at all. I uninstalled (technically, disabled) it on mobile as Google widgets like to open links in it otherwise.
I have chrome on the desktop as I work in software so I need to test compatibility with it, but that's it.
I agree in principle, but wouldn't wish the coupon catalog emulator that Edge has become onto anyone. It's beyond bizarre.
My personal picks are Firefox on Windows and Linux, and Firefox or Safari on macOS.
Firefox with Ublock Origin here.
I use Safari on Mac OS with Brave on Windows, with iCloud keychain passwords sync between the two.
Isn't Brave basically what Google is trying to turn Chrome into? I use Brave on my mobile phone, but honestly I'm kinda turned off by the weird advertising it shoves on me despite theoretically protecting my privacy.
I just go with Firefox on any actual computer since I can lock it down with whatever extension/config I want.
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How do you sync that?
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believe it or not, these features are liked by edge users.
Saved me 20% the other day
> Use a browser that is not made by an advertising company.
Personal opinion we need to tweak business incorporation rules to firewall ad business from all other types of businesses. Meaning General Motors can't sell ads. And ad companies can't sell cars.
And as someone on this site suggested extend antitrust dumping laws to services.
and/or make it illegal to gather consumer information without explicit, periodic consent. Make it doubly-illegal to sell data or rent it. (If "rent" doesn't cover it, also outlaw whatever thing google claims it does when it monetizes user profiles for ads.)
Yeah as in if data broker is your business it's your only business with very specific rules about what the data can be used for.
I’m so hurt by how Edge has turned out. I was ready for a tier-1 browser experience on Windows comparable to Safari on Mac. Microsoft has utterly wasted its leadership opportunity here, cramming in scammy garbage.
Firefox, god love it, is a rough and clunky browser by comparison. Sure you can make it what you want, but it’s an investment. As the only viable noncommercial cross-platform option though, what else are we gonna do
What’s so ‘rough and clunky’ about Firefox? To me it just works everywhere I have installed it!
Genuinely curious!
Yeah it works amazingly well. And offers some great features like offline translation and container tabs.
I have absolutely no issues with it. Websites all show perfectly, if I ever have an issue it's down to my many adblocking plugins blocking a little too much.
You know, I shouldn’t malign it. It’s really not bad at all in and of itself. I just wish it was as well integrated and as polished as some of the others can be.
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I have F13 bound to open KeePassXC on Mac. It works in every application except Firefox. Firefox blocks it somehow. It’s the reason I don’t use it.
Microsoft is also a web display ads company, what exactly do you think the business model for Bing is?
There’s zero point in switching from Chrome to Edge.
Firefox to my knowledge has no ads revenue, apples limited ads revenue doesn’t come from the web.
Brave I think is a low-key crypto grift run by a homophobe, but still better than Chrome.
On Apple OS also two alternative browsers rising: Arc https://arc.net and Orion https://browser.kagi.com Both making nice progress with their own strong points.
I really really love Arc. But I don't understand how they will make enough money to support the amount of work they've done. Their website seems to say nothing about this, and everything I've found about it so far is hand waving and speculation.
Arc is fantastic. Their product team is really well focused - the PIP view for google meet that dropped out of nowhere has been a game changer for getting through my day.
Going back to the alternatives from Arc for browsing and Hey for email management is always jarring. They aren't massive UX changes, but they sure are well thought out and impactful.
https://mullvad.net/en/browser as well
> Use a browser that is not made by an advertising company.
> In other words, just drop chrome. It has never been easier to do, with Edge and Safari readily available
Considering Windows 11 has ads in the operating system, how is Edge not made by an advertising company these days?
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