I get you about the updates. It's a risk-reward ratio I accept because firefox + noscript + always starting in a private session is way more helpful than the update problem is harmful. Using a VPN a lot of the time helps, too. There is no solution I know of that is perfect. My threat model is pretty relaxed, though, so what I do is mostly for my peace of mind. You have reminded me that I should start spoofing my user agent again.
But it is extremely misleading for them to be shouting "privacy" at every opportunity while the truth is that their browser leaks personal data like a sieve in the default configuration. This would give a false sense of security to non-technical people who don't have the skills to see through these lies.
Sorry for the somewhat angry comment, but I honestly can’t understand this mentality.
I'm not saying Chrome is any better, but at least Chrome doesn't toot the "privacy" horn at every opportunity.
Brave does have some kind of blocker built-in which might actually help even if it's not perfect.
I haven't experienced this since the rapid release schedule started. They're pretty silent now.
Are there any other config changes you would recommend to Firefox to harden it?
"neither Mozilla nor Pocket ever receives a copy of your browser history. When personalization does occur, recommendations rely on a process of story sorting and filtering that happens locally in your personal copy of Firefox."
https://help.getpocket.com/article/1142-firefox-new-tab-reco...
I find the majority of their privacy claims dubious and dangerously misleading for those that don't know any better. If they were serious about privacy they'd offer uBlock Origin (or equivalent functionality) preinstalled by default.
Their current countermeasures such as containers, tracking protection and this cookie thing is trivial to bypass with browser fingerprinting and IP address tracking if you have a global view of the Internet (which Facebook and Google do have).