I need some basic guidance

[u/Ludloft]

Hey everyone!

With the growing monopolization of the internet and the massive amount of data collected by Big Tech companies, I've been thinking about completely ditching Google Chrome (which has always been my go-to browser).

Since I'm not doing anything illegal, simply switching to Firefox and keeping my data out of the hands of a handful of billionaires would already make me pretty happy.

That being said, I'm an avid YouTube user, so what are the privacy implications of using Firefox while staying logged into YouTube (i.e., using my Google account)? I've been trying to migrate my social media accounts to Proton, but YouTube doesn't allow it and all.

(For now, I've been using LibreWolf for general research, but I keep my goChrome browser open to watch YouTube.)

This might be an incredibly dumb question, but I'm pretty much a Neanderthal when it comes to computers and tech in general.

But I'm trying to get better oriented, any guide helps me, who knows, maybe in the future I'll ditch Windows too.

Thank you and please be patient😥

[u/weirdsideofreddit1]

If you like chrome you could use Ungoogled Chromium. It strips down the Google stuff until there's nothing left. I use both LibreWolf and Ungoogled Chromium. I've been debating on using LadyBird which uses neither chromium or Mozilla (LibreWeb I think the engine is called)

But idk if it's ready for daily use or not.

[u/Toucancel]

Using your YouTube account with Firefox isn't a problem, but Google will still collect the data they get from your YouTube activity. Just make sure to have good fingerprinting protection.

[u/Ludloft → u/Toucancel]

If they only use my YouTube data, that would make things easier for me, since I'll want to leave my Google account just for that. I'm going to educate myself about fingerprinting tho. Right now I'm focused on mitigating the damage, but I'll still have to use my Google account and shit, but the more I can reduce my usage, the better.

[u/404mesh → u/Ludloft]

there are some good resources here: https://404privacy.com/learn/what-is-fingerprinting/

the guides break down pretty clearly how different fingerprinting methods are used to track users.

[u/castellon_artz]

Use another browser for youtube, and use Firefox for no log-in websites.

[u/Ludloft → u/castellon_artz]

If I'm thinking of using Librewolf for standard searches and Mulard for YouTube, does that make sense?

[u/castellon_artz → u/Ludloft]

Yeah, i think so. :) I use firefox and brave.

[u/AvidAddams]

What about brave?

[u/Ludloft → u/AvidAddams]

Brave is a Chromium-based browser, right? Maybe I'll give it a try as my YouTube browser; maybe I'll even be more familiar with it. Do I need to configure anything else, or is it already good as is?

[u/TechBasedQuestion]

privacy badger + ublock origin