Web Browsers Privacy Extensions You Should Use

All modern browsers now support a host of extensions.  Many of these extensions aim to improve your privacy while browsing the internet.  


uBlock Origin (Firefox)

A lightweight ad-blocker that does double duty as an anti-tracking add-on. Chrome and Internet Explorer/Edge users can instead use Ghostery.


Privacy Badger (Firefox, Chrome)

Developed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), this is a great anti-tracking add-on that does double-duty as an ad-blocker. It is widely recommended to run Privacy Badger and uBlock Origin together for maximum protection.



HTTPS Everywhere (Firefox, Chrome, Opera)

Another essential tool from EFF. HTTPS Everywhere tries to ensure that you always connect to a website using a secure HTTPS connection if one is available.



Self-Destructing Cookies (Firefox)

Automatically deletes cookies when you close the browser tab that set them. This provides a high level of protection from tracking via cookies without “breaking” websites. It also provides protection against Flash/zombie cookies and ETags, and cleans DOM storage.



NoScript (Firefox)

This is an extremely powerful tool that gives you unparalleled control over which scripts you run on your browser. However, many websites will not play game with NoScript, and it requires a fair bit of technical knowledge to configure and tweak it to work the way that you want it to.  ScriptSafe for Chrome performs a similar job.  It is worth keeping NoScript installed even if you “Allow Scripts Globally,” as this still protects against nasty things such as cross-site scripting and clickjacking.


uMatrix (Firefox, Chrome, Opera)

Developed by the team behind uBlock Origin, uMatrix is something of a half-way between that add-on and NoScript. It provides a great deal of customizable protection, but requires a fair bit of work and know-how to set up correctly. Note that if you use either NoScript or uMatrix then it is not necessary to also use uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger.

Most modern browsers include a Do Not Track option. This instructs websites to disable tracking and cross-site tracking when you visit them. It is definitely worth turning this option on. However, implementation is purely voluntary on behalf of website owners, so no is guarantee of privacy.


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