top | item 18054534

Ask HN: Is there a browser I can pay for?

15 points| Silixon | 7 years ago

Can anyone recommend a browser I can pay for to prevent malicious tracking of my browsing habits? I'm curious if businesses like this exist and whether or not they can be successful.

11 comments

order

RandomGuyDTB|7 years ago

I'd recommend Firefox with a paid VPN instead. PIA is supposed to be good as a VPN (Private Internet Access), I personally use HOXX for free when I need one. NoScript + uBlock Origin + a VPN should leave you nearly 100% secure but if you wanna go full throttle Tor is an option.

dasmoth|7 years ago

I don't particularly like this answer but: Safari.

It's now back to running (legitimately...) only on Apple's hardware (there was a Windows version in the past, but it's long gone), so you are paying for it -- it's just that the price is rolled into the up-front purchase cost of the hardware.

Apple does seem at least somewhat thinking about privacy as a differentiating feature, and Safari has some explicit anti-tracking features.

Is it the perfect solution: no. But I'm starting to think seriously about using it as my desktop browser.

gt2|7 years ago

But isn't Safari slow to update/bug fix? This includes security issues.

My thought is it's hard to choose Safari for their privacy when I have a higher possibility to get hacked due to a new hack that Chrome quickly updated (or didn't have in the first place). I'm sure most have seen them, but referring to these [0, 1, 2].

Even more tangible -- Google warns about visiting sites sometimes, while Safari will gladly let you enter. Isn't that a huge vector?

0: https://www.google.com/search?q=google+warning+thi+site&sour...:

1: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/99020?co=GENIE.Plat...

2: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/45449?hl=en

h1d|7 years ago

I like the idea. I feel a lot better to pay monthly fee of something like $5 to not worry someone else is keeping me a diary I cannot look.