…should a person have when configuring a web browser?
I had a good back and forth with @pbeens about this today. A fresh installation of any web browser comes with certain settings. With a good browser, you can add extensions to do various things to try to maintain your privacy. But how much is too much?
I tried to reach a website today – it was a school website and one of the pages just refused to load with my decked out Google Chrome browser. I fired up Mozilla Firefox and was able to see the desired page with no problem. So, it was noodle scratching time. I went through the process of disabling extensions until I got it to work.
So, I started to think. Just how far do I need to go to try and keep my privacy and stop the web from tracking where I go. (Although, I’ll admit, it’s pretty boring since I tend to hit educational and news sites).
I took a look through my extension to Google Chrome and have the following installed.
AdBlock Plus – Used to block advertisements that are pushed my way. It’s not that I’m adverse to advertising; it’s just that with a slow internet connection, this does help to speed up the browsing process.
Collusion for Chrome – I’m big into visualizations and Collusion illustrates the webbing and connections that are happening as you browse. I find it fascinating.
Do Not Track Me - Plain and simple, it’s designed to stop web sites from tracking where I go.
Ghostery – Blocks and displays a popup to let you know when there’s an element on a web page trying to track you.
KB SSL Enforcer – Forces the website that you’re visiting to use https:// for browser encryption when it’s possible. (This was the extension that had caused my “problem” earlier.
That’s about it. I should also point out that I use
WOT – This displays a crowd sourced traffic light on links to give you a sense as to whether clicking on them will take you to a safe sight or one that those working the web have concerns about.
So, I’ll end with the question that I started with. Is this too much paranoia? I think there can be a danger when you have too many extensions doing too many similar things. What do you think? Any recommendations for what can be removed or replaced with something better?
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The content of this blog is generated by whatever strikes my fancy at any given point. It might be computers, weather, political, or something else in nature. I experiment and comment a lot on things so don't take anything here too seriously; I might change my mind a day later but what you read is my thought and opinion at the time I wrote it! My formal education includes a Bachelor of Mathematics degree from the University of Waterloo and a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Toronto. Ontario Ministry of Education and Training qualifications are in Data Processing, Computer Science, Accounting, and Mathematics. My personal website is at: http://www.dougpeterson.ca Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dougpete I'm bookmarking things at: http://www.delicious.com/dougpete
Hey Doug,
I am curious which extension you had to disable to make the page work. Chrome has basically stopped working for me in the last few days. I have updated my Flash Debug Player, but that seemed to have no effect. Even Google Reader stops responding to me.
Ross
Hi Ross — this time around it was the SSL enforcer. I’ve noticed a few things out of the ordinary with Chrome lately. I thought it might be my extensions but perhaps it’s release 24?