How to Use Firefox Private Network to Encrypt Your Web Traffic

[Eorlas]

Nice to see Firefox doing this. Supposedly version 70 (next major version) will fix the CPU usage for Firefox on Mac OS (although we'll see).

Can see Apple doing this at some point as well - but its not a free thing to do, so it'd be interesting to see how they did it.

I'm more interested in why the thing performs so poorly.

Whatever the jump to Quantum was seems to be somewhat incompatible on a broad spectrum? When I use it on my 2018 MBP, it doesn't always perform well, *especially* loading reddit with its thumbnails. (Not a slow internet speed thing, just lots of lag.) I don't experience this issue in Chrome.

Also sometimes has issues accessing web pages. I also use it on a custom built desktop PC at home, and it has the website access issue. Doesn't seem to have performance problems there.

I *want* to use it more, but I struggle to support it more.

 

[nocsi]

Nothing. A company that touts privacy should make their VPN a free service.

It's one or the other. Either you're paying for privacy or it's free by way of paying with your data.

 

[FamVR]

It's one or the other. Either you're paying for privacy or it's free by way of paying with your data.

The way I see it is that we are already paying for privacy (think Apple hardware).

 

[nutmac]

Could you imagine if Apple offered a VPN service system wide for iOS and macOS?

How much would you pay per month?

I think it should be part of paid iCloud storage plans:

• $0.99/month: 50 GB storage
• $2.99/month: 200 GB storage (family sharing) + 1 HomeKit Secure Video camera + VPN
• $9.99/month: 2 TB storage (family sharing + 5 HomeKit Secure Video cameras + iCloud Music Library (formerly iTunes Match) + VPN

 

[Deuce2]

This is a native (free) feature in the Opera browser for some time now. Glad other browsers are starting to see the light.

 

[zakarhino]

What I hate about VPNs are how much they slow down your internet speed. I have 500Mbps and on VPN it's like 20-30Mbps. I do a ton of work online so it's not really an option.

Roll your own or use a smaller VPN service with servers closer to you. Personally I set up WireGuard on a VPS in my area and my speeds through that VPN are identical to the speeds I get without a VPN. Best part: it's only $5 a month for the VPS. Dirt cheap for a gigabit VPN with a 2TB monthly data cap. If you have basic skills working with Linux, you can follow this guide. I am happy to answer questions you might have in case you give this a shot, just PM me through MacRumors.

https://securityespresso.org/tutorials/2019/03/22/vpn-server-using-wireguard-on-ubuntu/

 

[mazdamiata210]

Looks like they are using cloudflare for servers

 

[fairuz]

Firefox is open source, has a good organization behind it and has many active contributors, how is it not secure?

It shares my browsing history to provide "recommendations." Like wtf, even Chrome doesn't do that.
[doublepost=1568343977][/doublepost]

What? Firefox is fantastic browser, especially when it comes to security and privacy.

That used to be the case, and I wish it still were. Mozilla has made some baffling decisions lately.
[doublepost=1568344190][/doublepost]

Apple should have integrated vpn Service into Safari browser, apps, and mail for a long time now.

macOS has supported VPNs system-wide for decades now, which is great, but Apple doesn't provide you a free VPN.

Btw, whoever runs your VPN, you have to trust exactly as much as your ISP. A lot of these services are from no-name companies, and since they specifically serve customers with something to hide, I trust them even less. A big name like Apple or Mozilla serving VPN to average users makes things subjectively safer.

 

[biziclop]

how to securely use firefox: do not use firefox

Here is a TL;DR text about “Mozilla - Devil Incarnate”:
https://digdeeper.neocities.org/ghost/mozilla.html

 

[OVERTASK]

I think it should be part of paid iCloud storage plans:

• $0.99/month: 50 GB storage
• $2.99/month: 200 GB storage (family sharing) + 1 HomeKit Secure Video camera + VPN
• $9.99/month: 2 TB storage (family sharing + 5 HomeKit Secure Video cameras + iCloud Music Library (formerly iTunes Match) + VPN

Hahaha, that is way too reasonable, multiply cost and divide services by 2 for Apple Tax.

 

[E.Lizardo]

Because that's a security and privacy nightmare. Some government want to see what you're looking at? Just intercept it at Apple. Need a pen register, which is a warrantless inspection and interception of traffic? Demand Apple to do it! Unlike end-to-end encrypted services like iMessage, by its very nature, the VPN endpoint sees all of your traffic.

Classic Blackberry used to do this, tunnel 100% of its traffic through RIM's servers Canada, and that caused it to be banned from many security-conscious companies and governments. That is, anything you did on a Blackberry was subject to international transit and Canadian searches. Companies had to spend extra money and set up BES, which was a tunnel-in-tunnel system.

VPN=automatically secure is just garbage pushed by shady VPN apps which analyze your traffic and are largely linked to China: https://www.csoonline.com/article/3335480/china-owns-half-of-all-vpn-services.html

Looks I did good choosing Nord!

 

[I7guy]

Nothing. A company that touts privacy should make their VPN a free service.

A company that touts privacy should make sure they keep your data private and within Apple. The rest is up to you.

 

[macduke]

Roll your own or use a smaller VPN service with servers closer to you. Personally I set up WireGuard on a VPS in my area and my speeds through that VPN are identical to the speeds I get without a VPN. Best part: it's only $5 a month for the VPS. Dirt cheap for a gigabit VPN with a 2TB monthly data cap. If you have basic skills working with Linux, you can follow this guide. I am happy to answer questions you might have in case you give this a shot, just PM me through MacRumors.

https://securityespresso.org/tutorials/2019/03/22/vpn-server-using-wireguard-on-ubuntu/

Thanks, I'll look into this. I live in a moderately sized college town about 100 miles from large cities in both directions, so I'm not sure how close such a service needs to be. I'm going to be redoing all my home networking stuff this autumn and maybe setting up a NAS too so I'll add this to my list of things to research.

 

[Digital Dude]

I like the clean design of Firefox. However, after a week or so, I discovered it's currently the slowest of the three; whether VPN is an enabled or not.