[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
New JShelter FSF Bulletin article is online.
From: |
Michael McMahon |
Subject: |
New JShelter FSF Bulletin article is online. |
Date: |
Thu, 7 Dec 2023 17:33:39 -0500 |
User-agent: |
Icedove Mail |
Full article:
https://www.fsf.org/bulletin/2023/fall/jshelter-helps-protect-your-online-privacy-heres-how-to-contribute/
Magazine version: https://magazine.fsf.org/2023-fall/
Title: JShelter helps protect your online privacy: Here's how to contribute
Article:
by Michael McMahon — Published on Dec 06, 2023 12:51 PM
Did you ever ask yourself why online privacy is important and what can
be done about it? Learn how the JShelter web extension can be part of
your privacy protection tool kit, as well as ways to contribute, in this
article.
Protecting your online privacy has never been more important, as
nowadays everything we do online leaves a digital footprint. As our
world is ever-changing, one never knows what activity permitted today
will be banned in the future. It is a best practice, in my opinion, to
do as much of your online research and other browsing anonymously to
prevent problems in the future. If you do not actively protect your
privacy, your behavior will be tracked, for example, through
increasingly invasive advertising practices. Once collected, your data
can be sold to law enforcement to be used against you as evidence, to
marketers to sell you things you do not want, and to malicious actors to
trick you based on your desires. Every step that you take to enhance
your privacy online can go a long way to making your life more secure.
[See the photo on the site]
One step you can take is using JShelter together with thousands of
people who do so already. What is JShelter? JShelter is a web browser
extension used to thwart websites that try to identify users through
their web activity, across websites whether or not they log in. Users
who may assume their activity is anonymous on one site can be identified
through a different site where they log in, for example, by comparing
similarities in their browser environment. JShelter prevents web pages
from turning the browser into a proxy to the local network. JShelter
also blocks Web Workers, which is code running in the background of a
browser that can be abused to install long-lived man-in-the-middle
proxies and other attacks.
You might want to share location with certain sites during navigation.
However, for other sites, you may want to reveal your location with less
precision (like ordering a meal or looking for nearby places of
interest). JShelter protects the user in other ways through features
like JavaScript Shield, Network Boundary Shield, and Fingerprint
Detector (known as "FPD"). The extension is free software and available
on all major web browsers. You can find installation instructions at
https://jshelter.org for your web browser. Discover how JShelter can
enhance your privacy.
JShelter has gone through several changes since we last promoted it six
months ago. Since that time, we have made improvements on usability,
performance, and internationalization. We also recently added a way to
identify scripts that call APIs that JShelter protects (for example, to
create custom block lists), fixed several bugs, and improved the
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page. Everyone stands to benefit from
JShelter's privacy-protecting features, and journalists and activists
would likely find the most benefit. As the number of people using
privacy tools increases, the collective privacy from using those tools
tends to increase as well.
You can make a difference and help make JShelter better by identifying,
reporting, and fixing bugs. Even if it seems minor, every issue and
workaround that you suggest might help someone else. Your reports can
help influence the roadmap of development for the extension. Grow your
technical skills by looking for existing issues, making your first
contribution, and building your résumé. See our contribution page for
ways to contribute: https://u.fsf.org/40z
Are you fluent in multiple languages? Help translate JShelter into your
native language to help your region. Translating JShelter into more
languages allows us to help protect the privacy of a wider audience from
around the globe. With each additional translation, we can break down
barriers so that people from more countries are able to take back their
privacy. This is a crucial effort because the risks related to losing
privacy online vary greatly by country, and sometimes have dire
consequences. If you can read and write in multiple languages and would
like to contribute to this project, please visit the following web page
with information on how to get started: https://jshelter.org/i18n/
Join our passionate group by making contributions. You can make a
difference building something great. JShelter needs your help. We are
working to create a better world. Try it, and contribute, today!
Copyright © 2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This article is
individually licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike
4.0 International license.
- New JShelter FSF Bulletin article is online.,
Michael McMahon <=