Advice Request Is Decentraleyes extension for Chrome/FF REALLY needed?

[HarborFront]

Let's start with what benefits it brings to the user

1) Protects you against tracking through "free", centralized, content delivery. It prevents a lot of requests from reaching networks like Google Hosted Libraries, and serves local files to keep sites from breaking. Complements regular content blockers.

2) Speed optimization and bandwidth saving as they are local resources now

The question is 'How does CDNs track a user as they're not websites?'

Frequently asked questions · Wiki · Thomas Rientjes / decentraleyes · GitLab

Can CDNs track me even though they do not place tracking cookies?

Absolutely. Requests to Content Delivery Networks contain the "Referer" HTTP header (originally a misspelling of referrer) that reveals what page you're visiting. Techniques like IP address tracking and browser fingerprinting can then be used to associate the aggregated data with your identity.

In short, if no referer is being sent (or hidden/obfuscated) then the CDNs will not be able to track you.

And other means to track you will be likely handled by your other extensions

Secondly, as to whether there's significant savings in bandwidth and speed optimization I really doubt so. If it does significantly speed up your surfing then by all means use it.

There's setting in Chrome/FF to prevent referer being sent. Otherwise choose extension with referer control to do the job.

Some interesting read up here

Does CDN know which website the client is visiting when fetching jquery.min.js or other resource from CDN?

Decentraleyes for Firefox loads CDN resources locally - gHacks Tech News

 

[HarborFront]

Just re-tested Decentraleyes vs Local CDN at home and in the office

At Home

Using FF - Local CDN performs faster than Decentraleyes. With many extensions installed I can see a speed up in loading of websites. Running with uBO and the noop rules from Decentraleyes

BTW, you can try out True Sight for Firefox. It gives information on what CDN(s) the website is connected to. Here's the link

Add-on - True Sight for Firefox

Chrome - Have some issue with uBO in Dynamic Filtering. Noop rules from Decentraleyes don't seem to stick when ran with Decentraleyes/Local CDN. Chrome not responding.
Ungoogled Chromium - Managed to get it running fast with Local CDN and uBO in Dynamic Filtering mode with the noop rules from Decentraleyes

In the Office

Using Chrome - Tried running with Local CDN. It's fast. Not using uBO.

For the above tests, using both the extensions, I can see that they do block the CDNs from the following sites

1) foxnews.com
2) cnn.com
3) mufon.com
4) m4ufree.sx
5) dailymotion.com

Edit - Re-tried today for my office laptop with Local CDN and my personal WiFi hotspot. It's sure fast now

 

[DeepWeb]

I have used Local CDN since forever instead of Decentraleyes. It is faster and it has given me fewer issues with HTTPS Everywhere and Nano Adblocker/uBlock Origin. I do not use it for privacy reasons much rather security reasons. I much prefer that as many scripts are loaded locally from my computer rather than coming from some remote CDN.

 

[LDogg]

I'll check out local cdn. Is this in both extension stores?

~LDogg

 

[HarborFront]

I'll check out local cdn. Is this in both extension stores?

~LDogg

Yes

 

[Stas]

Local CDN hasn't been updated for more than a year.
Local CDN on Firefox Last updated a year ago (May 22, 2017)
Decentraleyes on Firefox Last updated a month ago (Sep 16, 2018)

 

[DeepWeb]

I'm switching from Local CDN to Decentraleyes since Local CDN has not been updated in more than 1 year. I'm not a fan of that lol

 

[LDogg]

I'm switching from Local CDN to Decentraleyes since Local CDN has not been updated in more than 1 year. I'm not a fan of that lol

Very good logic there. Never a good idea to use something which hasn't been updated for a year!

~LDogg

 

[DeepWeb]

Very good logic there. Never a good idea to use something which hasn't been updated for a year!

~LDogg

Yes especially knowing how Chrome extensions get hijacked and turned into malware I only use extensions that get updated regularly. No more abandonware no no.

 

[LDogg]

Yes especially knowing how Chrome extensions get hijacked and turned into malware I only use extensions that get updated regularly. No more abandonware no no.

That is very true.

~LDogg

 

[HarborFront]

I'm switching from Local CDN to Decentraleyes since Local CDN has not been updated in more than 1 year. I'm not a fan of that lol

If you use uBO you can add the noop rules from Decentraleyes to it and use Local CDN at the same time provided you don't face issue. I'm using this method

 

[DeepWeb]

If you use uBO you can add the noop rules from Decentraleyes to it and use Local CDN at the same time provided you don't face issue. I'm using this method

Is there a way to run all of Decentraleyes' rules inside of uBO? I would be very happy if I had one less extension to worry about

 

[HarborFront]

Is there a way to run all of Decentraleyes' rules inside of uBO? I would be very happy if I had one less extension to worry about

I think those noop rules are the CDNs that Decentraleyes are blocking. You can check what Decentraleyes are blocking vs what uBO with Decentraleyes noop rules are blocking

 

[XhenEd]

Is there a way to run all of Decentraleyes' rules inside of uBO? I would be very happy if I had one less extension to worry about

In addition to HarborFront's comment, Decentraleyes uses its own local CDN to replace a website's CDN request. This ensures performance and privacy gains. As far as I know, uBlock Origin doesn't do this.

 

[Pirate_fin]

I used Decentraleyes for about a week and it only showed 6 blocked, so i don't now if it's useless or should i keep using it.

Using Firefox tracking protection, Ublock Origin and Privacy Badger.

 

[HarborFront]

I used Decentraleyes for about a week and it only showed 6 blocked, so i don't now if it's useless or should i keep using it.

Using Firefox tracking protection, Ublock Origin and Privacy Badger.

Yes, blocking CDNs is minimal. However, I can see it speed up my surfing.

 

[LDogg]

I used Decentraleyes for about a week and it only showed 6 blocked, so i don't now if it's useless or should i keep using it.

Using Firefox tracking protection, Ublock Origin and Privacy Badger.

Normally blocks CDNs that the other extensions you have installed misses. Also it replaces the CDN trying to tracking you with it's own, thus speeding up your connection as wel to the site you're visiting.

~LDogg