Vivaldi's privacy and interconnection with Google
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Hi guys,
I really like using Vivaldi as it offers in its entirety everything that is important to me in a browser and I can use it seamlessly on all my devices.
Now there is an external analysis about the browser's privacy and interconnection with Google, found here:Vivaldi: Data sending behavior desktop version - browser check.
This is of course suboptimal! I use Linux, smartphone with GrapheneOS without Google, but Vivaldi sends to Google? Not good at all.
My question: why doesn't Vivaldi rely on "Ungoogled Chromium", and how to bring that to developers?
Regards, Gui
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@asparagus1973
Hi, it is may be possible for some user to live ungoogled but in real world not for so much.
If your company use Google docs, what do you use in the home office?
I much prefer to use google services with vivaldi than with any other browser.
It also would cut down Vivaldi user from 100 to 2%.
I am a Linux user for a long time and I understand your thinking but I guess it is impossible.Cheers, mib
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@mib2berlin Why? The point is that Vivaldi is constantly exchanging data with Google in the background - that's not necessary.
If you want to use Google, you can of course continue to do so, but only at your own request. -
@asparagus1973
OK, this is different from using services like Gmail or so, you can disable some of this connections in the privacy settings.
If you disable "Webstore" some of the update connections are stopped, for example.
I am not sure which settings Kuketz-Block use but I guess the defaults.
It would be interessting what happen if you disable all Google services in Vivaldi. PDF viewer is also one of them, iirc.Cheers, mib
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@asparagus1973 You might be interested in reading this blog post: Decoding network activity in Vivaldi
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It's one thing to be connected with this or that to some Google service. It's another if you are connected but constantly blow the Google-is-bad horn.
Ultimately we are talking about Vivaldi's brand positioning. I feel Vivaldi tries to be everything to everyone here and that concept fails on the privacy and ad blocking aspects to some degree. Vivaldi needs to be pragmatic about Google because they are too small to go all in on being the ultimate privacy protector. Also there are a lot of folks who want to get away from Google where they can but without sacrificing everything that is convenient.
I personally think it would do Vivaldi good to position themselves as caring about privacy and doing what's possible, while staying pragmatic about this aspect. You can't win such all or nothing battles without an impeccable track record. Same with speed. Second place is first loser.
Focus on great features while doing well enough on privacy. Unpopular opinion here I guess?
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@komposten Thanks for the interessting link, will read it.
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@wildente No, I think this is a good point of view. Vivaldi is a company at the end and so they have to have many users with a high feeling of comfort. Thank you.
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@asparagus1973 , Vivaldi by default connects to Google for some services, but leaves it to the user's preferences to disable these APIs and services in the privacy settings.
You can de-google Vivaldi by yourself, if you want. -
Problem is:
Every time the browser is started, Vivaldi connects to "clients2.google.com" to check for updates. A unique appid (for example, pkedcjkdefgpdelpbcmbmeomcjbeemfm) is always sent along. This is a tracking feature that can be combined with other features such as the IP address, installed add-ons, and so on.
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@asparagus1973 , right, but this is the same with every Browser, for this I use Trace, which also removes the Google Header and fingerprints.
You can only hide the IP and other data using a VPN, that is valid for every Browser, also for Brave and include Firefox, in which you don't have the possibility to disconnect the Google APIs in the settings (Alphabet Inc and others, which are also Google Companys in Firefox) -
@asparagus1973 Your using a chromium based browser so you should expect connections to google servers,that is the nature of the beast.I consider it legitimate for vivaldi to connect to google servers for extension updates which eminate from the google store and also for phishing and malware definition downloads. The certificate revocation lists need updating also which are downloaded from a google server. it is a trade off i personally will accept to be kept secure.
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@priest72 , as I say, in Vivaldi you have the possibility to limit Google's access to a minimum and even to deactivate it completely, using extensions outside the WebStore, although with the disadvantage of having to update them by hand.
With my current configuration, for example, I have an account on YouTube, but although I enter my account and the favorites list, no history is saved and I do not receive suggestions, YouTube has been for me for a long time in a status quo, a good example of Vivaldi's capabilities, which I don't have with any other browser.
Apart from Vivaldis blockers, I use only Trace, Font Fingerprint Defender, with these, apart from quit the Google Header, they randomize all fingerprints, and SiteBleacher which only permits the datas, caches and cookies from whitelisted sites. -
@asparagus1973 said in Vivaldi's privacy and interconnection with Google:
A unique appid (for example, pkedcjkdefgpdelpbcmbmeomcjbeemfm) is always sent along.
According to https://www.jamieweb.net/info/chrome-extension-ids/
that is for Chrome Cast (not a generic tracking/privacy invasion)!And can so be disabled in Settings/Privacy
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@tbgbe , in Vivaldi, not so in other Chromium
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@asparagus1973 You have to consider what data is being sent to google. If they sent error logs (I donβt think they do) that could reveal your browsing history. If they use Google DNS (unfortunately I think they might) that also could reveal browsing. But fetching updates or even very basic telemetry is fine.
I would like to see Vivaldi degoogle more. They could also send any data to google over Tor. For now, disable g services in settings/privacy
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@asparagus1973 Yes, Vivaldi connects to clients2 to check for extension updates. Of course it sends what extensions you have installed, which may include default extensions such as chrome cast. For the most part, the extensions you have installed is not private data.
It could maybe be used for valuable fingerprinting if you do not block google analytics in websites with the tracker blocker, because they could connect your IP to a previous IP. I doubt they bother to do that when most users sign into chrome and or donβt delete their cookies.
You always have the option to configure proxy settings to make chromium use Tor or another proxy.
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@mib2berlin said in Vivaldi's privacy and interconnection with Google:
PDF viewer is also one of them,
I have disabled this for long time. Using Foxit on Win10 and PCLinuxOS. OK I have to 'Download' to read but that is a minor inconvenience and I don't mind taking the extra step.
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@catweazle (checks forum)
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Ppafflick moved this topic from Desktop on