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BadWolf
Badwolf is a minimalist and privacy-oriented web browser based on WebKitGTK.
Spyware Level: Not Spyware
BadWolf makes no unsolicited requests at all.
BadWolf is a pretty decent browser worth looking into. A couple of neat features worth noting is that BadWolf has a JavaScript switch and an image viewer switch, which is useful for daily tasks.
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GNU IceCat
GNU IceCat is a web browser that is a fork of Firefox.
Spyware Level: Not Spyware
GNU IceCat is a fork of Firefox that is more private and secure than Firefox and it contains several privacy-protecting features. IceCat 60 makes no unsolicited connections when you run it. Previous versions had privacy problems, but version 60 doesn't have these problems.
IceCat's privacy features
From gnu.org:
- LibreJS: GNU LibreJS aims to address the JavaScript problem described in Richard Stallman's article The JavaScript Trap.
- Https-Everywhere: Extension that encrypts your communications with many major websites, making your browsing more secure.
- AboutIceCat: Adds a custom "about:icecat" homepage with links to information about the free software and privacy features in IceCat, and checkboxes to enable and disable the ones more prone to break websites.
- Fingerprinting countermeasures: Fingerprinting is a series of techniques allowing to uniquely identify a browser based on specific characteristics of that particular instance (like what fonts are available in that machine). Unlike cookies the user cannot opt-out of being tracked this way, so the browser has to avoid giving away that kind of hints.
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Lynx
Lynx is a text browser for the World Wide Web.
Spyware Level: Not Spyware
Lynx makes no unsolicited requests at all.
It is also fully libre software under the GPLv2 license.
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Otter Browser
From their website: "Otter Browser aims to recreate the best aspects of the classic Opera (12.x) UI using Qt5." Their motto is: "Controlled by the user, not vice versa". Version tested: 0.9.12 (SlackBuild from slackbuilds.org). Program used for testing requests: Mitmproxy.
Spyware Level: Not Spyware
Otter Browser makes no unsolicited requests at all. It is fully open source. The developers, also, don't plan to include any spyware "features" in the future. This seems like a true privacy-based web browser (at least for now).
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Qutebrowser
Qutebrowser is a keyboard-focused browser with a minimal GUI. It's based on Python and PyQt5 and free software, licensed under the GPL. Program tested: v1.6.1 for Debian Buster. Mitmproxy was used to check for connections.
Spyware Level: Not Spyware
Qutebrowser makes no unsolicited requests at all. It is also libre software. This web browser is a great choice to use, and there is nothing to complain about from a privacy standpoint. (although I don't really know how to use the User Interface that well...) So far this browser looks like it can stand tall in the ranks of the other privacy-respecting web browsers out there.
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Surf
From their website: "surf is a simple web browser based on WebKit2/GTK+. It is able to display websites and follow links." Program tested: v2.0 for Linux. Mitmproxy was used to check for connections.
Spyware Level: Not Spyware
Surf makes no unsolicited requests at all. It is also fully libre software under the expat license. It was tested in conjunction with tabbed, another piece of software developed by the same people for use with surf, it adds support for tabs. From a privacy standpoint, this browser is an excellent choice.
Surf requires proxychains to connect to Tor, as it only supports HTTP proxies, not SOCKS (which is what Tor uses).
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Ungoogled-Chromium
Ungoogled-chromium is Google Chromium, sans integration with Google. It also features some tweaks to enhance privacy, control, and transparency (almost all of which require manual activation or enabling).
Spyware Level: Not Spyware
Ungoogled-chromium is a fork of Chrome that has all of Google's spyware removed. It was tested with MITMproxy and makes no unsolicited requests, and is therefore not spyware. Ungoogled-chromium is the highest-rated browser based on Google Chrome, and is probably one of the best choices if you can compile it. Otherwise, configuring Iridium to a sufficient privacy standard might be a good choice if you are looking for a Chrome-based browser to switch too without taking the time to compile any software.
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Web Browser
Web Browser is a browser originally based on Pale Moon.
Spyware Level: Not Spyware
Web Browser makes no unsolicited requests at all. It is also fully open source. Due to it being based on Pale Moon, it has access to all of the XUL plugins available.
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