Reclaiming Territory in Cyberspace: #3 The world wide web
Browsers are more than just windows into the web.
This is one of the most critical posts in the series. The primary battlefield in the information war is the world wide web. A majority of internet users aren’t actually users. They are captives of digital kingdoms that harvest their data, control their interactions, and manipulate them. Breaking free requires not only escaping these digital fiefdoms but also helping others do the same.
Understanding the battlefield
The world wide web is a network of networks. You connect to it through your ISP (internet service provider). Your ISP will then connect to large networks that act as the backbone of the internet. This is what allows almost anyone to connect to all kinds of different sites and services.
Websites
When you load a website here is what happens:
Your browser does a DNS query asking for the IP address of the server.
It then downloads the page, and any data and media associated with that page.
As it displays the content of that page, any additional scripts running on that page will start automatically.
Websites can have all kinds of content on them. Beyond simple text and images there can be video, audio, as well as interactive content. Extra content isn’t always good. Many times your browser can be downloading media and assets from sources that track the people accessing that content. This one of the ways Facebook, Google, and other Big Tech companies are able to track your browsing habits.
Scripts running on pages can do a wide multitude of things, from dynamically updating content on the page, to fingerprinting you to identify you specifically. While you can turn off scripts, many sites will unnecessarily gate content behind scripts and often an account as well. This trains people into constantly handing over more and more personal information in exchange for basic access. This is has fundamentally altered the web from an open information resource to a highly controlled technological terror.
Services
Servers can send information other than just pages and content, they can process and serve data. This allows many sites to have a more interactive experience. For example there’s infinite scrolling, instead of you having to open more and more pages to see results, the page just asks the server for more items and slots them into the page. The opportunities are limitless; and so are the troubles. This functionality allows sites, apps, and even smart devices to monitor and manipulate you.
Services also opened the door for people to be able to establish an online identity. This is what allows people to do all kinds of things like online purchases and comment on posts.
Many services these days have either been naively or malevolently made to collect much more information than would be ideal. Not all services need to operate this way. Where possible it’s important to redesign services from the ground up to respect user’s privacy & autonomy.
Your tools: Browsers
Browsers are the program or mobile app you use to access content on the web. Choosing what browser to use is a complicated topic without a ‘one-size-fits all’ solution.
When taking charge of your online interactions, you need to be aware of how browsers work. Then you can make more informed decisions about what browser to use.
Permissions
You may trust some sites more than others. Permissions decide what kind of access each site can use. Depending on your settings; sites may be able to autoplay videos, request the camera/microphone, and use your location. As always, the best way to keep information safe is not to distribute it.
HTTPS
HTTPS is an encrypted connection for the web. This requires the server to have a certificate. The certificate is an encryption key that can ensure the validity of the content. Certificates have to be signed by by a certificate authority. Let’s Encrypt is a free, efficient way to generate certificates for servers you control.
HTTPS is not a perfect guarantee of safety.
SSL added and removed here :^)
This diagram from the Snowden leaks means that if an entity can put a server in the middle of the connection, it can remove any and all protection provided by the connection.
This is essentially what Cloudflare does in exchange for their DDOS Protection.
Javascript
Web pages can be enhanced (or corrupted) with javascript.
Interverse is a project designed to help web people discover links between sites. By providing a machine readable index, sites can promote other sites to each other. This can eventually build a fully-decentralized, resilient way to discover sites.
The javascript running interverse does a variety of things:
After the page is loaded it downloads a file (/.well-known/interverse) from the website hosting the client.
The browser to then directly loads the file from the sites linked to by the origin site, receiving their details and connections.
Using a library called Alpine.js the data is then displayed on the page.
Add-ons
Browser add-ons are scripts running on top to change all kinds of functionality. It is never a good idea to install add-ons that you don’t need, and only install ones that you have a reason for.
Most people get into using add-ons to block ads, which is important. There are many other concerns to be aware of as well. DigDeeper has a fantastic resource for privacy and security concerns.
This is their add-ons guide.
Dev tools
Both Firefox & Chrome provide very featureful tools for understanding how sites you use work. You can open them with CTRL-SHIFT-I.
You will then be greated with either a new window or a sidebar with multiple tabs including:
Elements
This tab lays out the entire page’s code. You can make changes which will be reflected as long as you keep the page open.
Console
This will display any errors or logs on the page. You can even run your own javascript on the page.
Sources
Displays files and media used by the page.
Network
Lists and profiles any network connections made while loading the page.
Censorship avoidance
RSS
Using an RSS reader allows you to directly download new content from sites directly. This is very useful in reducing your dependence on big tech social media feeds.
Here’s how you can get the RSS URL from nearly any website:
Open the page
Search for the word ‘RSS’ using CTRL-F or “Find on page”
If there’s no link there, view the source of the page (CTRL-U) and see if there’s an RSS link. An easy way to find it may be searching for ‘/feed’
Copy the link
Add the link to your preferred RSS reader
Bookmarks
Saving websites you visit by bookmarking sites reduces your dependence on search engines. You can have your browser auto-complete results from your bookmarks so every site is only a few keystrokes away!
Privacy front-ends
Sometimes the content you want to access is on social media sites you no longer have accounts for. Libredirect is a fantastic service for redirecting you to a website that grabs the content for you.
The major ones are:
Invidious for YouTube
Nitter for Twitter
Bibliogram for Instagram
Follow-up questions:
Have you tried the Tor Browser?
What browser do you use on your mobile device?
If you could write your own add-on what would it do?