What's the deal with Epiphany and privacy?

[keyboardashtray]

I'd really like to use Epiphany - love GNOME, and I just like the idea of using the official GNOME browser. I like things to be integrated, a similar style across the board.

I just can't get over the fact that I can't whitelist cookies (and pop ups) in Epiphany. Geez, doesn't everyone do this?

It should really be in there by default. But barring that, they should at least offer an extension.

It doesn't help that the "middle of the road" option (only accept from sites you navigate to) is so vague. At first, I thought - ok, that might make sense. It accepts cookies from sites that you directly type the address of. Or are in a bookmark. Hey, I thought, that might actually be a convenient way of whitelisting, without the throwing in of the dreaded "unnecessary preference". Nope. It pretty much lets anything through, guess it blocks image cookies or something from 3rd party sites.

Epiphany really needs at least the basic fundamentals of online privacy. Cookie/popup management, history management, an option to not remember what I type and an option to clear all private data at the end of the session. Script blocking whitelist/blacklist would be nice too, but I realize I might be on the fringe on that one.

Like I say, I love Gnome, and I hate to add to the negative stereotype. But it's extreme decisions like this that create the stereotype.

I understand they want to avoid confusing options, but sacrificing so many basic privacy options for the sake of avoiding confusion crosses the line from keeping it simple to insulting my intelligence.

[bash]

I agree. Something along the lines of the Firefox extension "Cookie button in the status bar" would be great.

I miss that feature and maybe even more importantly I miss a NoScript like extension for Epiphany. That for me is the real reason I still use Firefox.

Maybe Epiphany with Webkit rendering engine will direct some attention towards this broswer and increase its popularity and the extensions available for it.

[keyboardashtray]

I agree. Something along the lines of the Firefox extension "Cookie button in the status bar" would be great.

I miss that feature and maybe even more importantly I miss a NoScript like extension for Epiphany. That for me is the real reason I still use Firefox.

Maybe Epiphany with Webkit rendering engine will direct some attention towards this broswer and increase its popularity and the extensions available for it.

You may be right there...I guess I'll have to adopt a wait & see approach.

[htor]

Epiphany intended for professionals - those guys that just can't fall victim to phishing scams. If you are n00b or just like outdated technology then I recommend you to stay with FF.

[Mr. Picklesworth]

Hey, I thought, that might actually be a convenient way of whitelisting, without the throwing in of the dreaded "unnecessary preference".

Wow, that would actually be really cool!

I'm working on a design for lighter feeling bookmarks, and that sounds like a great thing to set it apart from the pack. The idea with my project is that the current interface for web bookmarks causes people to hesitate upon adding them, because they waste space in a very visible way, so that convenient white-listing would actually not work with the current behaviour.

If bookmarks were instead just "places you are interested in" (combined with integration of web History), working in a way that is not space consuming but still offers the other bonuses of bookmarks (address bar searching, for example, and eventual rediscovery of a bookmarked page), that would make a lot more sense.

[Wolki]

I just can't get over the fact that I can't whitelist cookies (and pop ups) in Epiphany. Geez, doesn't everyone do this?

Whitelisting popups should work fine, it's in the view menu. It will enable it per site.

For cookies, is http://www.0d.be/2007/09/25/new-in-epiphany-2.20/ an option for you?

It should really be in there by default. But barring that, they should at least offer an extension.

If I remember correctly, there are problems with accesing cookie stuff from extensions because they need to access stuff in gecko.

Epiphany really needs at least the basic fundamentals of online privacy. Cookie/popup management, history management, an option to not remember what I type and an option to clear all private data at the end of the session. Script blocking whitelist/blacklist would be nice too, but I realize I might be on the fringe on that one.

If you want your epiphany not to store all these things, how about using a private session? http://live.gnome.org/Epiphany/Featu...rivateBrowsing

Nozte that this was the specification, it has been implemented for 2.16. Access it via a command line parameter(--private-instance I think, see the manpage).

[keyboardashtray]

Thanks for the ideas

I guess I just don't see myself working in the command line everytime I browse the net. I mean, I could configure a seperate launcher for that, but I'm thinking then that it would probably interfere with features that do require, for example, cookies, and would interfere with the convenience options cookies enable for the web sites I trust. So I'd have to set up two, and juggle between them.

As far as the cookies whitelisting through that option you linked to me, that was interesting - I didn't see any articles about that (although I don't know why they have to bury it in some config file). Even that, though, would mean getting nagged with a warning message at almost every website, and if its similar to the similar option here in FF (last time I tried it) it will often mean getting the nag 3-4 times in one site, once for every cookie I deny.

I appreciate the idea though, those three options are all news to me!

[quixotic-cynic]

Yes, this annoys me too...

* no cookie whitelist (why would anyone remove this?!?!?)
* no javascript whitelist (noscript)
* no easy block image without adblock plus

* can't close tabs on middle click, cant get rid of the tab-close icons (despite editing about:config), and (I found out just now) that I can't right click and correct spelling errors.

* also cannot put all my menus on one row anymore.

I *want* to use it - but it just seems like "Browsing For Dummies" at present.

Epiphany intended for professionals - those guys that just can't fall victim to phishing scams. If you are n00b or just like outdated technology then I recommend you to stay with FF.

I really hope that is sarcasm. ^_^ Webbugs, script exploits and tracking cookies - the list goes on.

Even that, though, would mean getting nagged with a warning message at almost every website, and if its similar to the similar option here in FF (last time I tried it) it will often mean getting the nag 3-4 times in one site, once for every cookie I deny.

It's unworkable... it drives you nuts after about 3 sites and is very inefficient. The best option I have found is to disable cookies and have a hostperm.1 file from firefox that contains your cookie whitelist. The drawback is that you would have to put cookie prompt on and reload the site, enable the cookie, and then disable cookies again every time you want to enable a new cookie.

I understand they want to avoid confusing options, but sacrificing so many basic privacy options for the sake of avoiding confusion crosses the line from keeping it simple to insulting my intelligence.

Perhaps they should just build in a much more convenient way of using the whitelist and make it the default. With a few lines explanation it is not a difficult concept to grasp - FFx just puts it in a really stupid hard-to-get-to place. You could have one of those messages at the bottom of the screen show by default to help less experienced users.

[keyboardashtray]

Yes, this annoys me too...

* no cookie whitelist (why would anyone remove this?!?!?)
* no javascript whitelist (noscript)
* no easy block image without adblock plus

* can't close tabs on middle click, cant get rid of the tab-close icons (despite editing about:config), and (I found out just now) that I can't right click and correct spelling errors.

* also cannot put all my menus on one row anymore.

I *want* to use it - but it just seems like "Browsing For Dummies" at present.

Exactly - I really like GNOME from a style perspective, and I like the integration. So much of computers is web browsing, and I think an area that even the beginning user becomes at least semi knowledgeable about - I think if a preferences menu mentions cookies, then it assumes some knowledge from the user about what cookies are. The fact that the interface allows them or forbids them suggests that they sometimes serve a function, and sometimes are negative. It therefore stands to reason that there should be some function that achieves a middle ground - and whitelisting is the ideal way.

I really hope that is sarcasm. ^_^ Webbugs, script exploits and tracking cookies - the list goes on.

Yeah, I didn't know what to think of this either.

Perhaps they should just build in a much more convenient way of using the whitelist and make it the default. With a few lines explanation it is not a difficult concept to grasp - FFx just puts it in a really stupid hard-to-get-to place. You could have one of those messages at the bottom of the screen show by default to help less experienced users.

GNOME's default response to a complicated but extremely useful feature shouldn't be "lets just take it out", it should be "how can we make this easier?"

I think one of the most helpful features but underused feature in any computer program is hover over help. Getting relevant information, even if it is a whole paragraph, when I hover over an option, etc., is so much easier than scanning through a manual. It sticks in your head better - like you said, a few lines of explanation in the right context is all it takes to teach a less experienced user about some feature.

They come so close to getting it right is with Galeon. I am trying that out now, and it has excellent cookie handling. You can set it up to deny cookies by default, but there is a drop down menu to allow for site. There is also a drop down menu for allowing pop - ups. There is no script whitelisting, but there is an easy toggle that I can deal with (even Firefox needs NoScript I suppose).

Galeon's bookmarks, though, leave a bit to be desired. There are some innovative features, but the interface is a little choppy. It takes a bit of time to get your bookmarks where you want them, and the smart bookmarks feature is unGNOME and a little messy. I much prefer Epiphany's cool bookmarking system.

I don't know what the work on Galeon is going to be, though - are they putting their efforts more behind Epiphany at the moment?

I think what could solve everything is to simply start with what Epiphany is now, and have a plethora of plugins solve the rest. I would love that - start with a pretty bare-bones browser, and just add in any features you want. Maybe if what Ubun-two was saying, that maybe this whole webkit thing opens the door.

Now if someone with the know how could just get cracking on a privacy plugin, I'd make the switch.

[kadath]

One of the biggest reasons I refuse to switch from Firefox is that I'd have to go without NoScript, CS Lite and Adblock Plus. No thanks.