How To Browse Privately! [+ tips and tricks]
LAST UPDATED: March 2022 (posted in April 2021)
Well, hello there!
Before we start, here's the table of contents! (Credit to IntellectualGuy's Big Python Tutorial table of contents)
- Table Of Contents (yes, really)
- Introduction
- What are cookies?
- Advertising cookies
- Private Browsing
- Alternatives to Google Chrome
- Blocking cookies
- Extras
- Should we use AdBlock?
- Should we use DuckDuckGo?
- Clearing cookie data
- Blocking JavaScript
- Inspecting websites
- Recap (skip here if you want to read less)
- Notes
- Contributors
- Ending
Introduction
What are cookies?
Simply said (Kurzgesagt reference), a cookie is a piece of information that websites can put to our devices.
Here's an example!
- You are logged in to Replit. (or are you?)
- When you login to Replit, Replit puts some cookies to your device.
- The cookies might contain information about your account and other things
- Even when you shut down your device, the cookies are still there.
- When you open Replit again, Replit sees the cookie in your device and automatically signs you in! You don't need to login anymore!
From the previous example, we can see that cookies are VERY useful to websites we are logged in to!
That being said, some cookies can travel from websites to websites, following us around.
These global cookies include...
Advertising cookies
Remember that same ad that just creeps you around the websites you visit?
That's called retargeting.
Basically, whatever we search in Google (and YouTube) will be collected to show relevant ads. Google has lots of advertising platforms - AdSense, AdWords, AdMob, AdChoices, and even Doubleclick! That's because Google gets most of their revenue from advertising. Some sources even say 83% of Google's revenue comes from ads alone!
Of course, website owners get money if we click an ad in their websites. (based on my research, website owners get 60% of ad revenue while Google gets 40%)
- To get money, website owners must display ads.
- To display ads, website owners must include Google cookies.
See the pattern here? Yep, Google cookies are (nearly) EVERYWHERE.
Google pretty much knows what websites we visit, where we are right now, etc.
Quite literally, Google is watching us.
...
Ehm, cue intense music.
......
Where's the music guy?
(BLUE DANUBE PLAYS)
No, no, not that one...
(MUSIC STOPS)
Fine, whatever. Anyways, onto the next chapter!
Private Browsing
Alternatives to Google Chrome
As I said earlier, Google gets tons of revenue from advertising.
Google Chrome is owned by (you won't guess it) GOOGLE!
Thus, Google Chrome allows all cookies by default. You can turn it off in the Settings > Cookies and other site data, but I don't really recommend this. Why?
-
We will be signed out from Replit and other websites we have accounts at. To make things worse, we can't login again!
-
Google products won't work well. We will be signed out from Google Chrome and other Google products we use!
-
That doesn't stop Google from tracking us. Google Chrome sends data about whatever sites we visit to Google. It's still not private! (This is true according to the many sources I visit and logic. If Google Chrome lets everyone track you, of course they'll also let Google track you!)
(I am aware there are several settings in Google that can turn off tracking, but I seriously doubt that.)
The only way to stop Google from tracking us is to use another browser. (But Google Chrome can still be used for Google products, even though I don't recommend using them)!
What browsers?
A lot. There are:
- Firefox (I personally use Firefox in desktop)
- Safari (However, according to my research, several sources say Safari doesn't care about our privacy!)
- Brave
- Tor (The most secure and private browser I know of)
- Microsoft Edge
- Ungoogled Chromium
- and more!
You can pick whichever browser you like, but remember each comes with its pros and cons. Here's the pros and cons of each browser!
Those browsers obviously don't belong to Google and they won't give any data to Google. However, Google can still track us using cookies!
Time to block them.
You can also watch this (in my opinion) hillarious video if you'd like to learn more!
https://www.youtube.com/embed/18En4NBbw3c
Blocking Cookies
Obviously, we can just go to the settings tab in the browser, then block all cookies. This way we can browse truly privately!
Also, blocking cookies literally make your internet browsing much faster. (I did my own experiment in early 2021, and blocking cookies make websites load more than twice faster!) Great!
Congratulations, we can browse privately now! 🥳🥳🥳
As a bonus, I will give you more tips and tricks.
Extras
Should we use AdBlock?
AdBlock is used by millions of people worldwide! So, should we use it?
Actually, no.
Why?
- AdBlock's current owner is unknown. We don't know who owns it (and I personally don't really trust them)
- Several websites force us to disable AdBlock.
- There are better alternatives such as
AdBlock PlusandUBlock Origin.
Should we use DuckDuckGo?
DuckDuckGo is a search engine that doesn't track us!
I'll explain in the following table!
| Criteria | DuckDuckGo | |
|---|---|---|
| Tracking | Lots of cookies | No tracking cookies* |
| Results | Biased results | Unbiased results |
| Content | Has graphs, diagrams etc | No graphs, no diagrams |
| Loading Speed | Slower | Faster |
| Auto-answer | Yes | No |
| Image URL | No | Yes |
| Image Search | Yes | No |
* DuckDuckGo has cookies, but they're not for tracking and probably are for remembering our settings in the search engine.
However, some inappropriate results may appear in DuckDuckGo. That's why we should set SafeSearch to strict! Searching in safe.duckduckgo.com sets SafeSearch to strict by default!
The Tor browser uses DuckDuckGo as its default search engines, signifying that DuckDuckGo is trusted.
Should we use DuckDuckGo? Yes, yes we should.
Also, DuckDuckGo has a handy feature called bangs!
Clearing cookie data
Since we have blocked cookies in our other browser, we don't need to clear cookie data there.
But we can actually clear cookie data in Google Chrome!
In desktop, go to chrome://settings/content/all or Settings > Security and Privacy > Site Settings > View permissions and data stored across sites.
In mobile, go to Settings > Site Settings > Data stored.
There, we can clear selected site data and see all the cookies that have been stored!
Blocking JavaScript
When browsing in our private browser, some arrogant websites (such as wired.com and globalnews.ca) refuse to give us access since we block their cookies or use specific browsers such as Tor! How do we fix this?
Go to the settings, then block JavaScript. This way most websites will still give us access even with blocking cookies! In Tor browser, this can be done by activating the NoScript Security Suite Add-On.
When going to another website, however, turn JavaScript back on. This is so that other websites don't misfunction!
Alternatively, you can stop loading the page before it fully loads and disappears! This doesn't always work though.
Inspecting websites
If you're curious about the source code of a website, or want to tweak some things, you can do just that with inspecting! However, inspecting is only avaible in desktop browsers.
By the way, go to your chosen browser settings and enable HTTPS-Only Mode if avaible. This is because URLs that start with https:// are more secure than http://!
Recap
Cookies are bits of information that websites can put to our devices. Websites can see what information the cookies contain.
Google's main source of revenue is advertising. According to some sources, 83% of Google's revenue comes from ads. Thus, Google tracks us across the web to see what websites we visit and give us relevant ads based on the data collected.
In other words, Google is watching us.
To stop that, we must use another browser like Firefox, Safari, Brave, Tor, Ungoogled Chromium (which is not the same as Chromium), or Microsoft Edge and disable cookies for private browsing.
Some websites like wired.com and globalnews.ca won't give us access if we block their cookies. To get access, block JavaScript but turn it on again when visiting another website.
Using AdBlock is not recommended as the owner is unknown. There are better alternatives such as AdBlock Plus and UBlock Origin.
DuckDuckGo is a great search engine which doesn't track us, loads faster, and has some handy features such as the bang feature. However, strict SafeSearch must be used to hide inaproppriate results. This can be done by visiting safe.duckduckgo.com. DuckDuckGo also has a browser for mobile, where we can join Email Protection Beta and App Tracking Protection Beta services. Other search engines such as Searx can be used as an alternative.
In your chosen browser, search a tutorial to inspect websites. Then, follow the tutorial to view the source files, console etc of any website and access stuff.
Enable HTTPS-Only Mode in your chosen browser since URLs starting with https:// are more secure than those starting with http://.
Notes
-
Ungoogled Chromium is not the same as Chromium, so beware. Chromium possibly tracks us!
-
I downloaded Tor in mobile. It randomizes my location to several countries (so far all the countries are in Europe!) Also, it doesn't block cookies but deletes cookie data after exiting the browser.
-
DuckDuckGo has a browser for mobile! It only blocks cross-site tracking cookies. It does have a feature to clear all cookies though, and you can join the
App Tracking Protection Betaand theEmail Protection Betaservices for free! -
Alternatively, you can use other search engines like Searx.
-
Ecosia won't give you access if you block cookies, so don't use it!
-
Incognito mode in Google Chrome doesn't stop Google and websites from tracking us! Moral of the story: DON'T USE GOOGLE CHROME.
-
Google made a "privacy-friendly version" of YouTube (
youtube-nocookie.com) which Google says "doesn't use cookies", but it still has cookies! If you want to watch YouTube without being tracked, consider downloading NewPipe!
Contributors
Thanks to:
- @caaaab for telling me about what happens with
CLICK ALLOW TO VERIFYscams, - @smodnix for telling me about
Searx, - @CodeLongAndPros for reminding me about
HTTPS-Only Mode, - @BrockTempler for reminding me about
Tor, - @Whippingdot for telling me about
Microsoft Edge, and - @xxpertHacker and @smodnix for reminding me about
Ungoogled Chromium!
Ending
Thanks for reading! (I mean, it's okay if you skipped some parts since this is REALLY long)
If you have any suggestions or corrections, feel free to tell me!
Also, sorry I don't have the list of sources I used... and did I use too many exclamation marks?
Now, let's test your eyesight!
C̸̫͈̻̹̿̈́ͅă̷̞̝̻̈̋̒̈́͠n̴̛̘͓͉͆͜ ̸̹̹͔͆̔̆̄̿̐͜ͅy̷̨̡̲͉̯̣̝͌̓̈́ǫ̶̝̹̇́̓͠u̸̝̪͉͇̺͚̹͌̃̎͆̌͗̏͘͠ ̷̗̺͍͙̋̀͗ȑ̵͉̦͗̋̒͊́͝͝e̷̢̻̝̪̔̈́̈́̂̒̂̚̕͝ā̴̙̱̺͕͂́͜ḏ̸̢͍͓̲̰̮͒̈͊̚͜ ̷̧͚͈̫̳̱̄̾͛̏̈̕͝͝ͅť̸̟̘̈́͛́́̊̉̓̚̚h̷̪̗̲̯̫̱͚̩̩̽̉̀̀̑̒̽̎i̶̡̯̼͂̊̏̌s̸̠̏̽̆̆̂?̸̟̘̖̻̞̼͈̃͒͆͐̚
.
And remember to stay cautious. Don't download anything if you don't think it's legitimate!
EDITS
There's also a channel called
The Hated Onein YouTube. (Watching in YouTube results in tracking, so it's better to use non-tracking APKs like NewPipe to watch YouTube videos). The channel has great videos about internet tips and tricks! Here's the link to the channel:
Also, please note that Google and other companies track you in many other different ways. THEY'RE NOT JUST ABOUT BROWSING. You can research yourself! The more you research, the more you know, the more you can do.
If you see an ad that offers free services, remember that they get money from something else... most likely by selling your data! I suggest you to not use advertised free services like Honey.
I believe privacy is important, both in the real world and the digital world. As you've spent time reading this tutorial, I believe you do too. If so, share this with other people or teach them yourself!
I posted a comment about how Google tries to replace third-party cookies and keep our data to themselves using a program called
FLoC. You can read it! (As of February 2022, Google has replacedFLoCwith a new tracking agent calledTopics.)
Bye and thanks again!
(OUTRO MUSIC)
You forgot UBlock Origin, HTTPS everywhere and the Privacy Badger
@CodeLongAndPros thanks! I know HTTPS-Only Mode is more secure but I haven't really done any research about UBlock Origin and Privacy Badger... I'll add them when I have researched, thanks!
@Th3Coder done :). I'm taking a little break off moderation (and a few others too iirc) but I'll be back soon.
@RayhanADev thanks! :) Also sorry for the late reply XD
This is great! I learned a lot! I never knew that Google owned Google Chrome!
But seriously, this is really great!
Hello everyone, I would like you (yes, YOU) to know that Google has not-so-recently launched a program to track users called Federated Learning of Cohorts (or FLoC for short).
According to the sources I have read (see sources down below), FLoC is basically Google's attempt to replace third-party cookies and keep your data for themselves!
In order to keep this post short, you can see the sources here:
- https://www.extremetech.com/internet/322086-shockingly-google-likes-googles-tracking-cookie-alternative
- https://www.technewsworld.com/story/87102.html
- https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/04/everybody-hates-floc-googles-tracking-plan-for-chrome-ads/
- https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/03/googles-floc-terrible-idea
- https://spreadprivacy.com/block-floc-with-duckduckgo/
Also, I still use some Google services on Google Chrome, yet I have not been informed of this change. Google is automating the FLoC program instead of letting us choose! Thankfully though, pretty much nobody else supports FLoC.
P.S. I got this information by searching news in DuckDuckGo.
...and thanks again for reading! Have a good day!
i'm using ungoogled chromium and searx for search engine. what do you think about it?
@smodnix hey, that's really cool! Upon seeing your comment, I went to Chromium and turned off the cookies. I conducted a Google search and no cookies were stored! I really like it, even more than Firefox (since Firefox allows Mozilla to track us)!
As for Searx, I actually recommend DuckDuckGo because of the BANGS! and faster loading.
Anyways, I'll add Chromium to the post. Thanks!
@smodnix I didn't know about that! Thanks, I'll look it up!
Oh, and by the way, Google is trying to stop users from using Searx!
Yup, the real Searx website is NOT in the results. However, with DuckDuckGo (whose results are unbiased)...
It's the very first result! This is basically proof that Google is trying DESPERATELY to keep everyone (including us) using only Google products.
Really, if not for the fact that my school uses Google Classroom, I would've quit Google pretty much ENTIRELY except for GMail.
Still though, I like Searx! Thanks again for telling me!
@Th3Coder What do you mean? Searx is in google's results.
@mollthecoder by that I mean the first Google result is, well, the fake Searx (searx.me). The real one is searx.ir!
@Th3Coder searx.me has a link to searx.ir but also other results. It's a google optimization.
@mollthecoder oh really? Thanks for the information! But it's still biased nonetheless...
I've had some experience with the sites that make you click 'allow' to continue. The ones I've encountered just sit in the background and just give you notifications in the bottom right of your screen like an email or YouTube notification and tell you things that may scare the user into doing something. It's more of phishing than malware and is easily removable by going into your browser settings and removing the site from your allowed notifications. Otherwise, great tutorial!
Bruh add MSEdge to the option of browsers. I use it and it is POG and has WAY more features than Chrome.
P.S. The bang feature looks pretty cool, but I am probs not gonna use duckduckgo cause it has less features than edge.
@Whippingdot okay, thanks! I'll add it after I research!
But I am probs not gonna use duckduckgo cause it ha less features than edge.
Microsoft's search engine is called Bing (which stores cookies) so DuckDuckGo is better imo.
Also, I said Safari, Brave, etc so you can use other browsers too!
O by browser I thought you meant a web browser - meaning an app. i didn't know you meant the search engine. I will try out duckduckgo as the search engine for sure. @Th3Coder
Also Microsoft's web browser is called Edge @Th3Coder
Try out Edge as a web browser. It POG
@Whippingdot ohh... that clears it up. I also made a typo, so sorry!
And thanks! It's added to the post!
Hey, another thing, I saw that you said you to go to Google Chrome and press f12 or whatever. You can also do that in Edge cause it is chromium based. The whole post basically says to not use Chrome so you can add 'or Edge' everywhere you write that you need Chrome for the F12 inspect. @Th3Coder
@Whippingdot right! I'll add that as well. Thanks again!
@Whippingdot done! It's added!
lul sorry for asking you to add soo many things. Thanks for adding them. Also I have seen you active on replit recently, meaning you joined like a month ago right? Anyway we can create a project together soon if you want to. @Th3Coder
@Whippingdot oh sure! What project do you want to make?
Also, I joined 3 months ago but became active around last month!
i don't know yet...we can decide later maybe. @Th3Coder
@Whippingdot okay! Should I add you to a team?
ya fine you can do that @Th3Coder
@Whippingdot I already invited you! I hope you like the name (ProjectBeta) since ProjectAlpha is taken XD
@Whippingdot Microsoft conducts ad tracking similar to google's.
na im pretty sure the edge browser doesn't track you. Bing does, I admit that, but Edge doesn't. Microsoft barely tracks you. @mollthecoder
@Whippingdot Well edge uses bing.
@mollthecoder I'm pretty sure you can change it in the Settings and block all cookies though!
@Th3Coder Blocking cookies does nothing to bing. Bing's tracking is server-based.
@mollthecoder in that case you can change the search engine...
ya I changed the search engine because of this post, I promise. The main reason is because of dark mode, bing doesn't have that... Also the automatic search in stackoverflow when asking a coding question is really helpful too @Th3Coder
@Whippingdot ohh right! Imo Bing is basically DuckDuckGo that tracks you, also dark mode isn't in Bing? Really?
yup it doesn't have dark mode @Th3Coder
Pretty good article!
Several websites force us to disable AdBlock.
for those annoying pop ups that say something like "We know you're not here for ads, but please to keep this free take off your blocker", I just manually block the popup, as well as the kind of "blur" screen behind it, and that's about all! :)
@Bookie0 Looking great work dear, I really appreciated to you on this quality work. Nice post!!
@Robert8977 so you're that annoying advertiser who has nothing better to do.
Regarding virus download, sites can't do much without user permission+interaction, so when you are asked to down load an anti-virus program, more often than not, the button is going to download a virus ;)
Also, you can block JS on a site-by-site basis, I recommend this over en-masse blocking JS.
@xxpertHacker yup! That's the case about the CLICK ALLOW TO VERIFY YOU ARE NOT A ROBOT scam!
Well, in Google Chrome we can block JS per site, but I'm not very sure we can in Firefox and Safari (I don't even have Safari!)
Well, I'll check it out later. Thanks!
@Th3Coder Oh, and btw, you may be interested in looking into the Chromium-browser itself, as opposed to Google Chrome. It's not branded by or tied to Google nearly as much.
@xxpertHacker right, I've heard about that browser! I have never used it though...
Well, I will later!
I'll research about it and maybe even add it and credit you, thanks!
@xxpertHacker I found this article that tells us how to block JavaScript in Firefox! We can't block individual websites though...
Wow, very pog tutorial. I would use duckduckgo however the auto-answer is very important to me and I feel that google and bing just look better.
@EpicGamer007 thanks! Yep, I also like the Auto-answer feature (but use DuckDuckGo in my device!)
@Th3Coder Umm, I exclusively use DDG, it has auto answer.
@xxpertHacker what I mean by auto-answer is when the answer appears when we type something! If we type how long do cats live in Google, we'll get the answer immediately! But we don't in DDG...
But yes, once we see the results there could be auto-answer! If we search DuckDuckGo in DDG and Google, the answer will automatically appear in the right side of the screen.
Thanks for the information keep sharing such informative post keep suggesting such post.
This is off topic, but thanks for all the reports :)
@DynamicSquid wow I just realized mods know whoever reports something you're welcome! Btw are the reports sent to moderators by random?
@Th3Coder No they get sent in chronological order
@Th3Coder how do you keep finding all these ads lol
@DynamicSquid ohh, I just scroll down Replit Talk and randomly come across ads XD
And the devs really should add an unreport button because I might report wrong comments accidentally, sorry about that!
You forgot Ecosia. Also, for bing, you left out the side menu thingy
@FrancisPan both of them track you, so yeah
@Th3Coder okee
The !repl duckduckgo bang doesn't work anymore.
@mollthecoder really? Let me check...
It does! Try typing !repl c instead of !repl python since Python's name in Replit is Python3 (I think)!
I learnt many new things about the browser today which i didnt knew about before :P such as how adBlock is risky and some new names of the browsers which i didn't ever heard before. And the ending quiz answer is - "Can you read this?" (I'm smart(not really..lol))And Sorry i didn't read whole as it was lengthy.
@TANMAYBAGADIA glad to know this helped! Also, you can read just the recap since it's shorter! Btw you have good eyesight
@Th3Coder haha 😆
I'd say Brave Browser is great as it has a built-in AdBlocker and able to block trackers which is great and I been using it for nearly a year now.
I think your post is fantastic, explains a lot of important points and how to's which should help others.
@16AKucendajevs thanks! Also, Brave is the one browser I haven't tried yet. Thanks again, I appreciate the information! :)
Cool! By the way, I think ecosia also doesn't track you. Can you add that to the list?
@codeitfast I've never heard of that yet, thanks! Also after visiting the website, Ecosia is a search engine and not a browser. I'll add it though, thanks!
@Th3Coder oh...I knew that XD
@codeitfast hey, Ecosia actually doesn't give access if we block cookies! So I had to remove it from the post...
Your article is very detailed and easy to understand, This is a must for readers who need advanced knowledge like me, thanks! [link removed by moderator]
Hey @pipahaha, please don't post irrelevant external links, as we have no idea what they do if they're not related to the topic matter. Let me know if you have any questions
use tor my G very encrypted protected smh even the government can't track you without doing a lot of work and if you have a VPN on while on tor its impossible for them to track you even your internet provider can't see you
@BrockTempler right! By the way you can visit the dark web using Tor if you know how to, so that's why I didn't include it.
I'll add it though, thanks!
And hopefully you have never visited the dark web
@Th3Coder Yes you can, I would also much rather not take a trip to the dark web.
@BrockTempler You can't go to the dark web unless you manually put in the URL @Th3Coder
That was random lol. I like your post this was pretty helpful. If you know python I would appreciate your hellp on newest my newest [email protected]
@mollthecoder manually? Nope, I think there are actual websites that provide links to the dark web (not to mention the dark web search engines...)
Never heard of that one. Darkweb search engines and if it exists whats most private i will proable justt enter through [email protected]
TORCH dark web search engine [email protected]
Oh nm dont use torch think it has alot of [email protected]
@BrockTempler yup! There are also other ones (like Ahmia and Excavator, I think)...
Also turns out the dark web can be visited without using Tor! BUT DON'T.
ye I don't think im that dumb.. but theres other sitess that use onion routing so even still im sure theres otherways . SO if I was to take a visit what should I use inside of tor cause it has 1 flaw tor [email protected]
@BrockTempler oh sorry if I offended you... Also what flaw does Tor have?
Hi click this link for more information about replit: https://replit.com/talk/learn/TO-ADMINS-AND-USERS/135147
yes i can read it lol also #pog
@Th3Coder shut up
@Th3Coder shut up
@Th3C0derB0y ???
@Th3Coder "I'm sure you can't read this!" U still sure?
@FlaminHotValdez but how-
@Th3Coder big brein
@FlaminHotValdez oh, that's because you dared! (Your PFP)
Also, that's a good quote! :D
@Th3Coder zalgo isn't that hard to read.
Assuming you can get your eyes within 2 inches of the screen, which I can.
@FlaminHotValdez ZaLgO
See @Th3Coder this is my altie
@Th3C0derKid hello, little clone of myself!
@Th3Coder :D
@Th3Coder i made an alt account called @Th3C0derKid
There is an ad block for youtube!
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/adblock-for-youtube/cmedhionkhpnakcndndgjdbohmhepckk
@OatMilk ohh... thanks for the information! As I am aware though, this extension is different from the AdBlock.
Here's the link to AdBlock:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/adblock-%E2%80%94-best-ad-blocker/gighmmpiobklfepjocnamgkkbiglidom (see the difference? The extension you are referring to is separate from AdBlock!)
Also, I'll add this to the post.
Thanks!
Simple. Fork this repl, change the URL in line 4 to what you want, run the Repl and bam! Private browser, inside Replit.
Markdown fails, but whatever!
@bennyrobert great idea! It doesn't work with websites like Google and Forbes though...
@Th3Coder Yeah, it doesn't bypass router restrictions, so I wouldn't be suprised if it can still see your search history aswell. But you don't have to worry about someone checking out your search history!
you missed ublockorigin adblock https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock
Try recommending Ublock origin. It's the original, FOSS, and actually good ad blocker.