Bonum Certa Men Certa

Managing NoScript Whitelists and Some Tor Browser Observations

Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer

One of the things that does bug me about using NoScript….



Is that is keeps the text file it exports in a different format with “modern” browsers.



So I can pass around one exported list by occasionally stomping the exported file with a fresh one with the latest permissions from LibreWolf and then pass it around to my other browsers that can use the WebExtension.



SeaMonkey, on the other hand, uses a “Classic” unsupported version of NoScript which uses a different list format.



So I end up maintaining a special version of the list, a second time, just for SeaMonkey.



I’m hoping that the upcoming update adds enough backported JavaScript and WebComponents work that more sites start behaving normally in SeaMonkey.



Having to pay my electric bill through another browser is a real bummer, and some sites like Walmart just look weird, although humorously, Walmart is currently bungled in Firefox to the point where you can’t schedule a grocery pickup time and checkout, but in SeaMonkey that works fine, but the site looks a little weird. So I can shop for food in SeaMonkey, but not Firefox.



I’d report a site compat bug to Mozilla, but I’d get the usual “Go to Hell, also CoC” Standard Reply assuming they even took any action on the bug report at all.



Even the modern version of NoScript does not appear to have a special button to disable WASMs.



I think you can stop them with blocking Object to Trusted Sites, but not sure about this, and it seems more destructive than surgically removing WASM with a preference.



I noticed while I was playing with the Tor Browser last night, that the “Safer” setting, starts disabling some features that aren’t widely used while just browsing the Web. It leaves JavaScript on (but only for HTTPS sites), but it starts disabling some of the crappy features that you often don’t need.



If you look at the monthly Mozilla security updates, a lot of them address High and Critical CVEs that WASM itself adds to the browser.



That’s why I set javascript.options.wasm to False in all my browsers in about:config, so even sites I allow to run JavaScript can’t load WASM blobs on me.



I just want to pay my phone bill, not risk having executables sent down the hatch.



It seems the Tor Project agrees that WASMs are a special danger that adds a significant amount of attack surface to the browser, beyond what JavaScript alone is capable of, and it’s not really that important.



So I’ve set my copy of the Tor Browser to the safer setting. It’s not what I’d like (static content Web sites), but it’s probably the best you can do and have the Web as it is work at all.



They should move the slider closer to the user interface so the user can dial it up and down faster, and set it to Safest if they want to run silent, run deep for a while, and not take chances on scripts and stuff on .onion sites.



Best practices for .onion sites are to remain accessible to users who can only look at static content.



The way that people typically get unmasked on Tor is partially “active content” being on in the browser, and partially that the police will set up a site that requires logging in.



Then the court issues a broad warrant that authorizes a “Network Investigative Technique” or a NIT, which is just fancy talk for “You are authorized to attack every user who sets up an account and attempt to plant malware on the machine.”



Basically, interacting with a site like this adds you to the warrant’s scope, so sites that require logging in are a big red flag that “there’s a reason why”.



So the issue of Tor unmaskings are part technical and part legal.



In most cases, it’s a two-part thing where the user hands them both parts.



Unfortunately, Tor Browser is set by default to have almost all the same vulnerabilities as Mozilla Firefox.

Recent Techrights' Posts

[Meme] Community of People to be Exploited, Then Thrown Away, Left Behind or Even Slandered
Debian.org front page
Alexandre Oliva's FSF disposition
During my recent trip for LibrePlanet, I was fortunate to have, or at least start, long conversations with nearly everyone in FSF staff
One More (Failed) Attempt to Deplatform the Sites by Harassing and Threatening Webhosts
What we're seeing here is a person who abuses the system in Canada at Canadian taxpayers' expense trying to do the same in the UK, at British taxpayers' expense
12 Days Have Passed Since the Edward Brocklesby Revelations and Debian Project Has Said Absolutely Nothing About That
One must therefore assume they have nothing to say in their defence (covering up severe security failings)
Coercion From the "Consent" and "CoC" Crowd is a Self-Defeating Tactic
Freedom of the press; Nothing less
According to statCounter, GNU/Linux Increased From 3.77% to 3.89% This Month (Worldwide), Windows Now Below 20% in 78 Nations, Below 10% in 27 Nations
Highest since March (for GNU/Linux)
 
Georgia: Bing Share Fell by Half Since 'Bing Chat' (LLM Hype), Fell Behind Yandex As Well
Georgia's situation is interesting
[Meme] SPI and 'FSFE': Sponsored by Microsoft to...
women's instincts do not matter to these strongmen
[Meme] Shitburger of an LLM
IBM and the Hololens
Links 17/06/2024: Chatbot Nonsense Thrown Under the Bus (Severe Failure, Pure Hype), How to Finance Free Software 'Hackers'
Links for the day
Debian's Personal Attacks Are Upsetting Women, Too
Female Debian Developer: "I Believe Daniel [Pocock] is On the Right Track."
Microsoft's Bing is So Irrelevant in Moldova (1%) That Russia's Yandex is About 5 Times Bigger
How much longer before Microsoft throws in the towel?
Yes, You Can
Unless you live somewhere like Russia...
[Meme] Listen to the Experts
Bill Gates didn't even finish university]
Roy and Rianne's Righteously Royalty-free RSS Reader (R.R.R.R.R.R.) and the Front-End Interfaces
As the Web deteriorates the availability, quality and prevalence of RSS feeds is not improving, to put it mildly
Algeria Shows High GNU/Linux and Android Adoption, All-Time High and Almost Three-Quarters of Web Requests
GNU/Linux was below 3%, now it is above 3%
Mass Layoffs at Microsoft-owned GitHub (About 80 Percent of the Staff in India Laid Off)
It's not just in India
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 16, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, June 16, 2024
Gemini Links 16/06/2024: Scarecrows, Moles, Ham Radio, and No IPs
Links for the day
Africa is Android and Green (Chrome, Not Just Android Logo)
In Africa Firefox is almost below 1% now
Covering Abuses and Corruption
We'll never surrender to blackmail
Ubuntu Running Out of Energy
Its planet too is deteriorating
Links 16/06/2024: In Defence of Email and Why Recycling Symbol Lost All Meaning
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/06/2024: Computer Science Course Union and Potentiometer
Links for the day
Cross border crime: sale of Swiss insurance in France and European Union without authorisation
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Letting Microsoft systemd Manage /home Was a Terrible Idea All Along
systemd-tmpfiles, deleting /home
Patriotism is OK, But We Need Facts and Reason, Not Blind Obedience to Authority
Very seldom in the history of human civilisation has groupthink proven to be of real merit
When You Touch One of Us You Touch All of Us
We have a principled, uncompromising stance on this matter
Links 16/06/2024: New Sanctions Against Russia, Fentanylware (TikTok) Causing More Problems
Links for the day
Social Control Media in Japan: Twitter (X) Has Collapsed, YouTube Rising (Apparently)
What a genius Mr. Musk is!
Windows Cleansed in South Africa (Already Hovering Around 10% Market Share)
Plus Microsoft's mass layoffs in Africa
[Meme] Satya Nadella's Windows PC RECALLS Not What He Did
Satya got lucky
Usage of Let's Encrypt in Geminispace Has Collapsed (That's a Good Thing!)
Ideally, or eventually, all capsules will sign their own certificates or have their own CA
North Macedonia: Windows Down From 99.2% to 28.5%
Last year it was even measured at 26%
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 15, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, June 15, 2024
Gemini Links 16/06/2024: Hand Held Maneuvering Unit and Hugo Static Files
Links for the day
Removing the Tumour From IRC
looking back
[Meme] The Free(dom) Software Engineer in European Elections
“When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.”
Vista 11 Was 'Leaked' Exactly 3 Years Ago and This One Picture Says It All
how 'well' Vista 11 has done
A Smokescreen for Brad Smith
Maybe the key point was to say "Linux is not secure either" or "Windows and Linux are equally vulnerable", so don't bother dumping Microsoft
Windows Sinking Below 13% Market Share in the Island of Jamaica
Microsoft's decline continues and will mostly likely continue indefinitely in Jamaica and its neighbours
Links 15/06/2024: Microsoft's Intellectual Ventures Attacks Kubernetes With Software Patents, More Layoff Waves
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/06/2024: On Lagrange and on YouTube Getting Worse
Links for the day
Edward Brocklesby: hacker received advance notice of zero-day vulnerabilities in MH and NMH email software
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] Code Liberates Kids
Matthias Kirschner: I can't code, but I can write a book
In Armenia, Bing is Measured at 0.6%, About Ten Times Less Than Yandex
Bing will probably get mothballed in the coming years
[Meme] A Pack and Pact (Collusion Against Computer Users)
They never really cared about users, no more than drug dealers care about drug users...
GNU/Linux in Azerbaijan: From ~0.1% to 7%
Azerbaijan is around the same size as Portugal
Women in Free Software (FOSS) Need Action, Not Mere Words
the men who are loudest about women's rights are some of the very worst offenders
Embrace, Extend, Extinguish Minecraft
These folks should check out Minetest
Techrights Statement on Men Who Viciously Attack Women in Free Software
history shows women will win
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 14, 2024
IRC logs for Friday, June 14, 2024
[Meme] People Who Cannot Find Gainful Employment Because of Their Poor Behaviour Online (Not the People Who Merely Call Them Out on It)
Imagine trying to become a lecturer while talking like this in public
You Too Would Get Nervous
countries where Windows is down to 2%
[Meme] The Two Phases (and Faces) of Microsofters
Microsofters: stalk IRC, then troll IRC
The 'Nobody Reads Techrights Anyway' Crowd
Send In the Clowns
Books in the Making
I intend to spend a considerable amount of time explaining what my family and I were subjected to for the 'crime' of promoting/covering Free software
Microsoft is Still Losing Malta
And GNU/Linux is doing well on laptops and desktops
Tux Machines: Third Party Impending
There will be more next week