Don’t use dark mode as it is bad for privacy
What?
It makes you unique from a fingerprinting perspective.
How so?
Websites can look at their own structure, and they can see the changes addons make to them, for example of a CSS property was changed or added.
Maybe there are ways around that, like with the use of a shadow DOM, but I’m not a web developer
That’s not true for all sites. If the page is static then it’ll have no clue. If it’s dynamic and running a client-side script to report this info back, and if that information is collected, then I can see how that might be a useful supplement for fingerprinting if the server owner is so inclined. At that point though I’m wondering why a security-conscious user is raw dogging the internet and allowing scripts to run in their browser without consent (NoScript saves browsers).
Even then it’s unclear when/how altering the page to render it differently is commonly communicated back to the server, how much identifying information that talk-back is capable of conveying, and how we might mitigate those collections (wholesale abstinence and/or script control aside). What are the specific mechanisms of action we’re concerned about? This isn’t a faux challenge for the sake of hollow rhetoric. I’m ignorant, find the dialogue interesting, and am asking for help being less dumb. :)
I found some brief and useful discussion in this Privacy Guides thread. Seems like the concern is valid but minimal for all but the most strict/defensive postures.
Trying to validate this myself for Dark Reader without breaking out Wireshark and monitoring some big tech site while I toggle color modes (which I might do later if I think of it and find the time) I see Dark Reader is open source, an Open Collective member, and seems to engender little hand-wringing. The only public gripe I can find is this misguided Orion Browser feedback thread.
Thanks for the interesting diversion!
Dark Reader is intensive, I will give this a shot. So far so good on FF mobile.
How did you install it on mobile? Do you need to use the nightly?
Nope, you can install extensions to regular FF for a while on Android. Go to addons.mozilla.org and install like how you would do it on desktop. REquest deskto site if extension claims to be incompatible.
Thanks! I was missing the desktop site trick 👍
Yea, It uses native features of Gecko engines that’s why it’s faster than Dark Reader.
Ah it doesn’t work on Android? A pity, that’s where I need dark mode the most.
Didn’t tried on android.
It works but it’s config interface looks borked
Edit: NVM, it also breaks some sites
I just tried it on a Firefox fork and it works fine.
Just go to the link in OP, then enable Desktop Mode in Firefox. That will let you install it.
Dark Reader works a charm on Android.
Did anyone actually test how fast it is compared to Dark Reader?
Calling yourself “the fastest” is all nice and good, but some benchmarks would be nice.
Try it your self. Use a pretty low end device. You will see difference. It’s life saver for my eyes and pretty old computer.
My “pretty low end device” is an Android, which they do not support. :/
Just use Cromite for dark mode! ;) …
…oh shit, wrong sub.
thanks for the suggestion
On my rather old FP3 it spares me a few seconds per page load and the result seems quite comparable to dark reader.
Although it works well, this is so experimental, it makes lab rats look like seasoned professionals.
Looks good, but I wait until its proven and stable.
It’s been in development for 4 years.
That doesn’t mean it’s stable. From his own description:
This is still highly experimental so it can also ruin your internet experience
Yea, I mean it will take eternity(not really) to become stable. xD
Anyone tried this with twitch? I just get a gray screen instead of video. Anyone else? Really like this extension otherwise
Twitch already has a dark mode available in the settings.
The issue is more that the extension doesn’t seem to properly let sites bypass or something. I have to turn the extension off and refresh to get picture back.
Maybe I’m an idiot, but I can’t find a source link. Is this open source? I was curious about finding information comparing it to darkreader
Under “More information” > “Add-on Links” > “Homepage”.
Dark Reader has been in development since 2014 and is much more polished
Pro tip: Firefox can do dark mode natively, if you’re ready to accept some ugly websites.
Settings > Manage colors >then set your preferred hues andOverridetoAlways.It’s blazing fast with zero white flash, and most sites are perfectly legible.
Is there a way for the same on Firefox on Android, Fenix?
While I’m glad they’re trying this, it has the same problem as Brave, no configuration. Dark Reader lets you configure individual site profiles via a toggle of static/dynamic/etc to fix ones that don’t work well. Without that, nothing will compare.
