Surf Protection

The Internet can be a scary place, and if you're going to spend time on it, you'd best come prepared. These free browser extensions will help you safeguard your browsing experience. I'll start with some extensions that are available for both Firefox and Chrome, and I'll also show you some that are only officially supported by the privacy-conscious Firefox browser. If you use a different browser, you might find equivalent functionality, either as a built-in or through an add-on. Part of the purpose of this article is to describe, not just the tools, but the problems the tools are designed to address, which should give you a better idea of the dangers faced by the casual Internet user.

Keep in mind that the first thing you should do after installing any operating system, browser, or other software is to apply all pending software patches and upgrades. Stay aware, and keep your system up to date.

Chromium and Mozilla

DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials

For those who don't already know about DuckDuckGo: It is the number one choice of privacy-centric search engines and should be your default search engine if wish to stay on the low. DuckDuckGo eliminates ads and trackers and does not store your personal data.

DuckDuckGo's Privacy Essentials extension makes sure all of your searches funnel through its service (Figure 1) and also adds a layer of protection against third-party trackers by automatically enforcing encryption, defaulting to HTTPS, and adding email protection so you don't need to commit to giving your real email address in the numerous online forms you will encounter this year. The email protection feature allows you to create an @duck.com email alias that you can use in registration forms to add an extra layer of anonymity.

Figure 1: The impact of the Duck search engine is immediately felt at the search level as it blocks undesired content.

Privacy Badger

The Privacy Badger extension is not the typical ad blocker you've always known and enjoyed. Unlike other blockers, Privacy Badger actually learns to blacklist invisible trackers based on the experience you give it by browsing. Privacy Badger learns to discern the nuances between the trackers, based on its three-strike system. If it encounters the same tracker on three different websites, it will automatically adapt its knowledge base to permanently flag the tracker. To further help users who are trying to avoid trackers, it will automatically mark all objects that are deemed as unwanted (such as auto-play videos from external websites) (Figure 2) by adding a privacy badge over them, allowing you to be the judge when it comes to allowing the content or not.

Figure 2: Privacy Badger allows you to focus on the content that really matters by removing another layer of distraction.

Privacy Badger, which adds Global Privacy Control [1] to your sessions by default, was developed and is maintained by the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF).