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NihilCredo comments on Isn't this sitemeter logging a bit too excessive? - Less Wrong Discussion

20 Post author: DanielVarga 02 February 2011 08:55PM

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Comment author: NihilCredo 03 February 2011 01:04:50AM *  4 points [-]

RequestPolicy is a Firefox addon that blocks (and whitelists with a click) all cross-site requests, such as sitemeter.com's or google-analytics.com's, or for that matter any funny guy who embeds terrorismandpaedophilia.com in the middle of poniesandkittens.com

If you are bothered by this sort of stuff, install it. Note, however, that it makes it quite cumbersome to visit multimedia-heavy websites for the first time, especially in conjunction with the near-mandatory NoScript.

Comment author: [deleted] 04 February 2011 10:22:47PM 2 points [-]

I use Ghostery. It's less radical than NoScript or RequestPolicy, but it knocks out most tracking scripts and ad networks, including SiteMeter, and it's more pleasant to use.

Comment author: nick012000 03 February 2011 11:48:50AM 0 points [-]

Does this offer any functionality NoScript doesn't? I've already got the latter installed, but I'd want to know if it would be a waste of time to install this as well.

Comment author: NihilCredo 03 February 2011 08:32:24PM 2 points [-]

https://www.requestpolicy.com/faq#faq-noscript

Is RequestPolicy an alternative or competitor to NoScript?

No! :)

NoScript is a tool that gives you a default deny policy for JavaScript, Java, Flash and other plugins. NoScript allows you to whitelist scripts and objects from domains you trust.

RequestPolicy is a tool that gives you a default deny policy for cross-site requests. RequestPolicy allows you to whitelist cross-site requests you trust.

How does RequestPolicy help you where NoScript does not? RequestPolicy will protect you from various attacks that NoScript will not (such as CSRF attacks, though there some special cases that NoScript protects against) and will give you greater privacy while browsing.

Also, RequestPolicy will give you finer-grained control over JavaScript and plugins when you use it with NoScript. For example, if you whitelist a domain with NoScript to allow it to run JavaScript, then that domain will also be allowed to run JavaScript when you are on any other site that you have whitelisted with NoScript. RequestPolicy makes sure that when it is JavaScript from a third-party site, it will still be restricted unless you have allowed those cross-site requests.

Conversely, NoScript gives you protection that RequestPolicy does not. RequestPolicy will not keep you safe from malicious JavaScript or vulnerable plugins on the current site you are visiting, So, NoScript is absolutely essential for browser security.

Having two separate tools that each do their specific jobs well is the best approach. NoScript is an amazing extension and is absolutely essential (like RequestPolicy) to using Firefox securely. It is best to use both RequestPolicy and NoScript.

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