Curl-impersonate: Special build of curl that can impersonate the major browsers

(github.com)

545 points mmh0000 | 1 comments | 03 Apr 25 15:24 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source

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userbinator ◴[04 Apr 25 00:08 UTC] No.43576948[source]▶

I'm always ambivalent about things like this showing up here. On one hand, it's good to let others know that there is still that bit of rebelliousness and independence alive amongst the population. On the other hand, much like other "freedom is insecurity" projects, attracting unwanted attention may make it worse for those who rely on them.

Writing a browser is hard, and the incumbents are continually making it harder.

replies(1): >>43577866 #

jolmg ◴[04 Apr 25 02:53 UTC] No.43577866[source]▶

>>43576948 #

Your comment makes it sound like a browser being fingerprintable is a desired property by browser developers. It's just something that happens on its own from different people doing things differently. I don't see this as being about rebelliousness. Software being fingerprintable erodes privacy and software diversity.

replies(1): >>43579025 #

1. gkbrk ◴[04 Apr 25 06:43 UTC] No.43579025[source]▶

>>43577866 #

Not all browsers, but Chrome certainly desires to be fingerprintable. They even try to cryptographically prove that the current browser is an unmodified Chrome with Web Environment Integrity [1].

Doesn't get more fingerprintable than that. They provide an un-falsifiable certificate that "the current browser is an unmodified Chrome build, running on an unmodified Android phone with secure boot".

If they didn't want to fingerprintable, they could just not do that and spend all the engineering time and money on something else.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Environment_Integrity

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