• General
  • It is still safe to use Bromite for anonymously browsing ?

I am concerned about browser fingerprinting and made a couple of tests with fingerprint.com website. I tried to configure Vanadium, but no matter what I am doing (clear the cache, change IP), they still see am I the same person. Bromite however is performing good if I am using it in incognito mode.
My question is, at what risks am I exposing myself by browsing anonymously ? I use Vanadium for websites that require login or any kind of personal information.

    edwin I am concerned about browser fingerprinting and made a couple of tests with fingerprint.com website.

    What you are seeing is their Fingerprint Pro product test. Fingerprint Pro is very comprehensive and it is VERY difficult to combat against their Pro product. I saw this blog post online a while ago and it seems like Tor Browser on a desktop is the only big way to beat their system:

    https://www.bitestring.com/posts/2023-03-19-web-fingerprinting-is-worse-than-I-thought.html

    edwin I tried to configure Vanadium, but no matter what I am doing (clear the cache, change IP), they still see am I the same person.

    You will likely not be able to beat Fingerprint Pro with Vanadium.
    See this comment by the GrapheneOS account: https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/4242-brave-vs-vanadium/10
    An adversary with the right resource would be able to tell if you were using GrapheneOS anyhow from other metrics, same post also explains.

    edwin Bromite however is performing good if I am using it in incognito mode.

    The anti-fingerprinting in that browser is just done by them randomizing all sorts of details, it's not very efficient considering the adversary can just track you based on the details that remain the same and seeing that they change on every page you navigate in a sequence. Randomness also would make you stick out like a sore thumb if a detail they provide would be very unrealistic

    Also, it is not recommended by devs and mods because the official repository is very outdated and so is missing security updates. While there are people maintaining updated versions themselves, they don't have any guarantee of being stable. Fingerprint Pro likely would fingerprint this browser by chance just from the randomness alone.

    edwin My question is, at what risks am I exposing myself by browsing anonymously ? I use Vanadium for websites that require login or any kind of personal information.

    Being seriously anonymous on GrapheneOS would be difficult, and I would suggest use a different setup, but... to answer your question, there wouldn't be any serious risk other than being looked as suspicious, providing you behave properly.

    Anonymity is something that cannot exactly be achieved by using a piece of software. It also requires changing behaviours, habits and internet lifestyle. If you are trying to be anonymous you should completely distance yourself from anything unique to you or would stand you out. The Whonix docs has a great list of examples, although these are Tor user centric:

    https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Tips_on_Remaining_Anonymous

      final
      Can the cell tower tell were using grapheme is?/I thought it just reported back pixel 6 with location unknown......

        edwin

        I think with Chromium based browsers you're out of luck.

        • TorBrowser with javascript disabled should work :-)
        • Firefox with many tweaks maybe (not sure)

        Bromite wasen' t updated a long while ...

        d9780 Can the cell tower tell were using grapheme is?/I thought it just reported back pixel 6 with location unknown......

        Cell tower triangulation works on essentially all big phones with and without SIM (can emergency call without one), while GrapheneOS may reduce information from being transmitted depending on what features you enable, cellular-network specific information like IMEI etc would always be transmitted. The phone itself doesn't broadcast your location, rather the cellular network can make an approximate location based on looking at what cellular base stations your phone is connected to and the distances between them to map you.

        You can avoid cellular network tracking by using Airplane Mode. This turns the cellular radio completely off. You can enable WiFi manually to still get internet access through WiFi, although if you have a SIM then WiFi features from your cellular carrier such as WiFi calling is possible.

        See: https://grapheneos.org/faq#cellular-tracking

          treequell modern and popular, should have specified!

          Some other, less popular devices with the form factor of a phone may not use cellular networks but get used like a phone like an iPod Touch, or may be a device with a physical cellular radio switch. But of course they'll be vulnerable to many other (and worse) things.

            2 months later
            • [deleted]

            edwin I am concerned about browser fingerprinting

            For real anonymity, you have to use the Tor browser in the 'Safest' mode.

            Privacy and Anonymity are different.

              edwin Alas, no matter what your browser and your settings, it will make you unique... and the more you change the settings, the more unique you will become, even with TOR. As others have said on this forum, if you want to be anonymous it's impossible because the whole of the web is captured by all the intelligence agencies. I'm one of those who blends in to be invisible.

              [deleted] Numerous networks are neutralised every month because they were anonymous, except that security flaws have enabled them to be traced, and this on the darkweb...