Do I need Ghostery if I have ublock installed?

[SNJ]

Like most privacy conscious people, I used ABP as my adblocker for a long time. Then everyone started recommending ublock, and I switched to it.

Now I have only ublock installed. I don't use any other addon like DoNotTrack, Disconnect, Ghostery.

Should I? Doesn't ublock stop trackers along with ads? Or is it just an adblocker?

 

[lxskllr]

uBlock alone is fine as long as you use appropriate lists. I use Fanboys Ultimate list. I also suggest using NoScript, but that will add work to your browsing. Worth it imo.

Edit:
Forgot... Also block third party cookies.

 

[TheRyuu]

Should I? Doesn't ublock stop trackers along with ads? Or is it just an adblocker?

No you don't need the other stuff. The filter lists will probably be blocking the same stuff and that kind of stuff are just network filters. Also see below for dynamic filtering which will dramatically increase privacy/security.

I also suggest using NoScript, but that will add work to your browsing. Worth it imo.

You can allow scripts globally in NoScript then use uBlock's dynamic filtering for control over third-party scripts/iframes[1]. Makes things a lot simpler and easy to use since then all that's required to unbreak a site is a noop rule for that site for third-party scripts/iframes. You'll still get the XSS protection from NoScript then (also remember to nuke the built-in list of whitelisted sites from NoScript).

And if you want the fine-grained controls that NoScript offers I would suggest uMatrix over it even in Firefox. I think the interface is way more intuitive than NoScript's but to each his own I suppose.

[1] https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Blocking-mode:-medium-mode

 

[John Connor]

If you install NoScript you can disable and a pop up will ask if you want basic protection. I recommend that to people who don't want to be bothered by the cumbersomeness.

 

[inf1nity]

Hey sorry to interfere in this thread, but I have a question. Does Google track your browsing activity 24x7? I never sign in to my Gmail account when searching, and I have NoScript that blocks Google scripts.

I recently started spending a lot of time on reddit, and I noticed I get a lot of results in my searches from reddit now. Is this just a coincidence, or does Google keeps accounts on you even when you're not signed in to their services(is that even possible?)

 

[lxskllr]

Hey sorry to interfere in this thread, but I have a question. Does Google track your browsing activity 24x7? I never sign in to my Gmail account when searching, and I have NoScript that blocks Google scripts.

I recently started spending a lot of time on reddit, and I noticed I get a lot of results in my searches from reddit now. Is this just a coincidence, or does Google keeps accounts on you even when you're not signed in to their services(is that even possible?)

You probably still have Google cookies set, and they may be getting read.

 

[John Connor]

Ya, more than likely cookies. I always clear cookies and cache.

 

[inf1nity]

I use CCleaner to clear everything, cookies, cache, temp files quite regularly..

Even on websites which are whitelisted on NoScript, i allow on the website's own scripts and not scripts from other domains. For example, on reddit, i allow scripts only from reddit.com and redditstatic.com and disable google-analytics, google-tagservices and whatever other scripts it runs.

 

[inf1nity]

Can websites set cookies on my computer even if I don't allow scripts from their domains to run?

 

[lxskllr]

Can websites set cookies on my computer even if I don't allow scripts from their domains to run?

They can set cookies unless cookies are explicitely blocked. For example, I block third party cookies in settings. I go to reddit, it sets a cookie, and it's allowed since it's first party. (hypothetical)Google tries to set a cookie, but it's blocked since it's a third party cookie.

In your specific Google issue, reddit may be sharing data with Google. They're a big site, and data sharing would help both companies. Dunno if that's true, but it's something to consider.